


The Fall

by Gloryhalamia



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:53:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28504029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gloryhalamia/pseuds/Gloryhalamia
Summary: A group of shinobi with mysterious abilities are ready to attack but they are going to come up against some tough opposition.Set in Hashirama and Madara's era. Just a fun interpretation of a canon event.I suck at summaries and I don't want to spoil anything but there are a lot of original characters and some fun fight scenes.
Relationships: Senju Hashirama/Uzumaki Mito
Kudos: 6





	1. The Diluted

**Author's Note:**

> This is another work written by my friend and it is more serious this time. I edited this but there are probably loads of mistakes so feel free to point them out in the comments so that I can fix them.

“Tatsu, ne, ushi, tatsu,saru, tori, tatsu-” Had it not been from Atsushi’s chanting a pin could have dropped and scared a mouse to death. Even the village at the bottom of the hill was completely silent. But the silence at the top of the hill was far different from the one at the summit. But such was to be expected, after all one could not expect a village that had been attacked ten times in only two weeks by three of the great shinobi villages and two other smaller ones to be ecstatic about their situation. 

“Byakugan!” There was a slight pause in Atsushi’s reciting as he looked up at his fellow Uchiha, Hirashi, with disdain for almost ruining his concentration on what was apparently a very complicated jutsu. “- ne, mi, ushi, ne, tori, saru, mi, ne-” He wasn’t the only one who questioned the young Uchiha’s need to announce the special abilities of his one eye. A low growl came from the treeline behind Hirashi. “Woah Kuromaru, down girl,” the giant dogs master stroked the part between her ears to calm her but by the way the light glistened off his salivating mouth or the gleam in his three tomoe red eyes it was difficult to say whether it was master or dog that needed to be restrained. “Pah, if it isn’t Hirashi’s redundant shouting it's definitely going to be the stink of two mutts that gives us away.” “You watch your mouth Shika before I bite your tongue out of it!” It was difficult to say which was more fierce, Kaori’s bared fangs or his sharingan gleaming back at Shika. Shika stood her ground, unnerved by her cousin's eyes and glaring back with her own three tomoed wheel eyes, redder and brighter than even his. In the darkness of night she appeared more terrifying than normal, and had it not been for those piercing eyes of hers she would have likely blended into the shadows completely. After all that was her speciality, gifted to her by her Nara blood. 

Kaori lowered the tone of his growl and slunk back further out of the patch of moonlight he was under and into the shadows made by the forest. He had been thrown around by his cousin’s shadow jutsu enough to know its weakness lied in the absence of light and enough to know that he and his ninja dog stood little to no chance against her.   
“Enough you two!” a stern whisper brought them both in line. Their master and captain for this mission, Takeo Uchiha stepped forward and made his way to the edge of the tree line where Hirashi was standing. The captain could not have been any older than thirty, and although in most conventional militaries such an age would be nothing to brag about in the shinobi world, and furthermore in the Uchiha clan, only those of unimaginable skill could even dream of living that long. He had survived the last of the great clashes between the Senju and Uchiha and through that earned himself the infamous name “Amaterasu Takeo''. 

It was Takeo that was the reason for the diverse group present there. As one of Madara Uchiha’s closest comrades following the great Uchiha’s brother’s death he was present during the negotiations that saw the birth of the Hidden Leaf Village. It was at his request that Madara allowed for what many Uchiha mockingly called Takeo’s diluted generation. Before the name “Amaterasu Takeo” he held the title of “Takeo of the wandering eye” because he could never see the world as most Uchiha did. He was always scouting the talent of other clans and the secret jutsu they held. “If only the Uchiha had that,” he would often say in jest at first. “Then we would undoubtedly be the strongest clan for the next one thousand years and more.” But perhaps his eyes had wondered too far at some point. 

“Father,” Inosuke called to him as he stepped out of the shadows. A boy of only twelve, he possessed his father’s keen eyes that allowed him to become a prodigy in all aspects of life he engaged in. In fact had it not been for his father’s own disapproval the village would have made the boy a jounin by age nine. “My last meal, this is definitely going to be my last meal,” the rather plump girl who walked beside Inosuke cried as she scoffed down the rice ball in his one hand and the sushi roll he held in his other. “If only I had gone for barbeque before or maybe something deep-fried? But there were still so many foods I hadn’t even tried yet, what happens if I die here and never get to-” “Chouje calm down already alright,”Inosuke said to his comrade. Despite appearances the half Uchiha half Akimichi girl besides him was only slightly weaker than her friend while at the same time not having the same parental hindrances from allowing her promotion to jounin. “That’s no way to speak to your elders Inosuke!” she spat up half of her rice ball while rebuking him. “You wouldn’t know what it's like not being a true connoisseur of fine foods and all! How could I possibly die in peace knowing I have lived a satisfying dining life if I haven’t even tried half the dishes in the leaf village alone.” “Oh she’s definitely tried more than half of everything that’s for sure,” Kaori sniggered from the shadows as Kuromaru gave a half snigger half growl alongside her master’s joke. 

The joke died quickly after Kaori dropped to the ground suddenly, violently spasming as his mouth began to foam and his eyes reverted from sharingan red into Inuzuka black. Kuromaru leapt to his side, whimpering and nuzzling her master as though it would do any good. The convulsions lasted only a moment. Kaori gasped as he threw his body up into a sitting position, struggling for air as though he had been strangled but clasping at his head as though he had just got it out of a crushing grip. Kuromaru turned back and growled at Inosuke and dog and boy met eye to eye. What cold blue eyes they were. A beautiful Yamanaka blue but a still with the chilling glare of an Uchiha. 

“That’s enough Inosuke!” his father rebuked. “What’s the situation like down there?” He turned back to Hirashi. The veins in Hirashi’s right eye receded and he lifted the left palm covering the sharingan. “They’re on high alert but they’re definitely still vulnerable,” Hirashi replied in his usual calm tone. “The combined attack by the Cloud and the Waterfall two days ago did significant damage to the outer walls on our side, so they’ve taken all their shinobi from the inner wall to try make up for it.” “Those lower level grunt ninja shouldn’t be a problem for seven of us,” Shika stated. “Eight of us!” Kaori snapped back. Kuromaru barked in agreement. 

“And the elders?” Takeo continued. “As far as I could tell all of them are there, including Ashina.” Takeo seemed satisfied with the response, almost confident that their plan could now commence without issue. “And those six?” he stopped. “Despite who they are, even they would have some unmistakable chakra and I didn’t see any one like that in the village tonight.”   
Takeo remained still for a moment, contemplating the situation before him. “-ne, tatsu, tori, ne-” Even with Atsushi’s chanting in the background it was clear something was amiss with the situation. Was it a trap? Why in the middle of a crisis would this village’s six strongest shinobi not be there? Were they somehow hiding themselves even from the vision of the byakugan? No that couldn’t be it either. Hirashi was too cautious, perhaps they could conceal themselves, but the attempt would have made the young ninja suspicious. Perhaps it was nothing more than good fortune passed down from the heavens. Takeo was far from the spiritual type but if the powers that be had granted him such luck he would have to be a fool not to accept it. 

“What’s our next move captain?” Shika’s question dragged him back to reality. He hadn’t noticed but his hands were trembling. Fear? No, that was the Uchiha blood in him tired of being teased. It was only his body telling him to hurry up and get to the killing he had promised it. 

“Well alright then,” he grinned. “Atsushi are you just about done there?” The captain turned his gaze to the shinobi knelt on one knee in front of a scroll weaving the last of the hand signs for his jutsu. The jutsu could have been performed by infusing less chakra than the shinobi had but Atsushi had been one of his first students and he knew just how meticulous the young ninja was. “It must be the Aburame in him,” Takeo thought. “-tatsu, tori, ne, tatsu!” Atsushi nipped the edge of his right thumb and threw his hand into the air. “Summoning jutsu!” He cried as he planted the palm against the Aburame insignia seal on the scroll. 

The air was suddenly charged with smoke and a loud shriek that shook the earth. Not long after a strong gust nearly threw them off their feet but when they found their balance again they looked up to see Atsushi high in the air on the back of a behemoth sized moth-like creature flying towards the village. 

“Well I guess it's our turn to get ready then,” Kaori grinned. The youth weaved a few hand signs so quickly that even an average sharingan’s eye would struggle to keep up, but not “Amaterasu Takeo''. Inu, tatsu, inu, ushi, tatsu, ushi, inu. “Inuzuka style, man-beast binding!” As Kaori said those words the teeth he had already filed down into razors elongated and became fangs, the long nails he shaped as claws seemed to become sharper and the boy's waist length hair bristled. The looks of a typical Inuzuka man-beast transformation at first, however, there was more to it. Everything between dog and master was now shared equally, spiritually and physically. Their senses of sight, smell, hearing and touch were all enhanced by the other. The sharingan in Kaori’s right eye disappeared and then reappeared where Kuromaru’s had been, while the dog's own eye took the place of his master’s. It was a compromising technique considered a forbidden jutsu even among its Inuzuka creators, for it had a drawback of shared lifeforce as well, meaning if either dog or master should fall both would die. However, in the hands of a skilled shinobi it was a formidable asset. In the hands of an Uchiha it was a death sentence for the enemy. 

“Let’s go Kuromaru!” Kaori snarled, foaming excitedly at the mouth. “Inuzuka-Uchiha style, firewheel fang over fa-” “Would you calm down you idiot!” Shika knocked him over the head before he could even begin the proper stance. “Unless you’re planning on getting caught in Atsushi’s jutsu stay still and wait! Now sit, roll over, good boy.” Kaori growled angrily but obeyed nonetheless, crouching down on all fours before arching his head back to give a long blood curdling howl to the moon. This time it didn’t matter how loud he was, the village at the foot of the hill was already in full defence mode after a giant moth had been spotted soaring above in the night sky.

A myriad of firestyle, windstyle and lightning style techniques shot up from the shinobi below but with the most unlikely grace the moth avoided them all. Still, it was far from a gentle rocking especially for Atsushi who had begun another sequence of hand-signs. “Oniga, perhaps use that jutsu while I finish up here,” Atsushi said as he continued to weave his signs. “I tend to get motion sickness and I would much appreciate it if I had a stable footing to work on.” “You ask too much sometimes boy,” the moth bellowed back. “But as you wish. If anything, my jutsu will only increase the potency of the one you are about to conjure up.”

The great insect dropped its altitude slightly, all the while still avoiding the shots being thrown at it and maintaining a level stance for her summoner. “Moth dust, hibernation jutsu.” Oniga gave three strong flaps of her mammoth wings and rained down a shower of particles over the village below. It was not long before the long ranged jutsus aimed at them started to dwindle in frequency and power. “Hey don’t breath that stuff in it’s a genjutsu!” A few windstyle users had tried to repel as much of the dust as possible but it was too late. A large portion of the village's forces had been rendered helpless and put into a deep sleep by Oniga’s dust. Even a punch to the face would not wake them. All that was left was for Atsushi to thin out the remaining defenders.

“Finally,” he said, putting his hands together for the last seal. From the ground one could see the massive eye patterns in the moth's wings slowly changing, their brown and gold colours slowly distorting into a bright crimson red. In the centre of each eye a three tomoe wheel appeared, glaring down with that same feared Uchiha intensity. “Huh,” Kaori scoffed from the side-lines. “Just a cheap copy of the Inuzuka style.” But the jutsu was not yet complete. Atsushi weaved a few more signs and the three black tomeos in the moth’s wings began distorting and rearranging themselves again, eventually taking the shape of black butterfly wings. Atsushi groaned at the discomfort and so desperately wanted to take off his Aburame styled shades to relieve himself. But he had to stay focused. So he bore the discomfort and remembered the pain that brought him to where he was now. What heart wrenching pain. Even in that moment it made him want to cry. 

‘A tear?’ he wondered as he felt warm liquid trails run down his eyes and seep through the bottom of his shades. No, it was too thick to be tears. “Mangekyo sharingan.”  
“Don’t look up, it's another genjutsu!” For the few fortunate enough to have ever been defeated in combat by an Uchiha they knew from the moment the sharingan wheel appeared in the moth’s wings to avert their eyes. Their other less experienced comrades were not so lucky and quickly dropped like flies under the power of the Mangekyo sharingan.   
“Well I suppose it's time then,” Takeo said. “Let tonight go down in the history books as a legend. The legend of when the Uchiha’s diluted generation defeated the Uzumaki and destroyed Uzushiogakure.”


	2. Ashura's six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to learn about the opposition

“Firestyle, majestic destroyer flame!” Mito couldn’t help but imagine the faces of the nearly two dozen Waterfall jounin on the other side of the giant wall of flames that came to consume them. Why should they not, after all such a technique could only be used by masters of the firestyle. Indeed it was nothing close to the likes of Madara Uchiha, but still, this move alone would be enough to incinerate a small army let alone the six of them sent out to meet them. Mito Uzumaki stopped the sequence of hand signs midway and watched. It was futile now and her involvement wouldn’t make a difference.

“No…no way…” Mito had hardly felt the heat of their opponents jutsu before it was sucked up into nothingness. “I gave that jutsu everything I had and you just put it out like it was a spark in water,” the jounin caster was not lying. If anyone had felt the heat of that jutsu it was definitely her, but even so the expression of anguishing defeat was even more clear than her fatigue. 

“So our turn then?” Nagisa grinned. Mito had tried to wean the little girl of her arrogance many times before but humility was difficult to teach to a girl of eight who had already proven herself one of the most capable members of Ashura’s Six. 

“Don’t get so cocky little girl! Akira let’s do it!” Two jounin broke from the trembling Waterfall ranks and leapt forward, weaving the same hand signs in perfect synchronicity. “Waterstyle!” they cried in unison. “Water dragon jutsu!” If there had always been underground wells beneath their homeland Mito did not know, or perhaps it was that the earlier rains had been heavier than she thought, but that had been nearly two weeks ago. No, the more likely answer was the enormous torrents of water rushing towards them were purely the testament to the two jounins' masterful control of their chakra and the waterstyle. 

This time Nagisa only raised one hand and made an exaggerated show of covering a fake yawn with the other. Then, just as with the other shinobi’s firestlye move, the two water dragons were pulled into the palm of her hand by some hidden yet far more powerful force. 

When the commotion was over and the Waterfall battle line was once again frozen in fearful silence, Amida stepped forward from behind Mito and the other four and made his presence known. He was a tall, handsome figure with dark eyes that seemed to catch even the faintest light and glimmer like two stars set into his face. Mito had never known him to show any other emotion besides the stern and determined expression he wore permanently on his face and had he not kept to a daily routine of shaving his head would have been covered in Uzumaki red instead of the tattoos of symbols related to the sage of the six paths. Every one of his strides seemed to carry such weight of power that the opposing shinobi could not help but retreat a step back for every one he took towards them. His arms never swayed, always staying parallel to his body as he walked and his hands were nearly completely hidden by the long sleeves of his white robe. As he walked past Mito she saw the symbol of their clan, sewed neatly in black onto the back, with six tomoes of the sage surrounding it.   
He stopped only a few feet in front of the other five and by the terrifyingly powerful energy they felt they knew he was about to speak. At times it felt as though his very own chakra was trying to repel everything around him, yet sometimes one could even feel as though it were almost pulling them in, forcing them and everything else toward him. “Now do you understand,” he always spoke in a slow and deliberate manner with any enemies of Ashura’s Six. “You cannot win. This is where you will die.” 

‘Its finished now,’ Mito thought as she saw Amida begin to raise an open palm towards their enemies. “Come on Amida, don’t sweat yourself with these nobodies,” Ryuuji laughed, putting a hand on Amida’s shoulder. The bald sage gave a slight side glance to his giant of a comrade before lowering his own hand and sighing in agreement. “If you must Ryuuji.” The big man chuckled as he rolled up both his sleeves up until his upper arm, revealing a hulking set of biceps. “Don’t worry I’ll keep the damage to a minimum,” as he said this a series of unhealthy clicks and metallic grinding noises sounded from his body. “Well at least a lot less than you would have done that’s for sure.”   
The Waterfall shinobi gasped in terror as the giant before them raised his arms towards them and rightfully so too. “What kind of a freak is he?” One of them said, attempting to draw a kunai that would only slip from the grasp of his trembling fingers. “Is that even human?” another asked, already in a retreating stance. Ryuuji laughed at the sound of their terror. Mito could already tell what he was thinking behind that sinister smirk of his- ‘human? Who would want to be remain as something as boring as a human?’. The preparations were done and the giant sage’s arms gleamed silver in the moonlight, showing off an impressive array of missile type weapons protruding from his augmented limbs. “How’s about we make this fun,” he grinned. “I’ll give you all ten seconds to get away. Starting… Ten… nine… eight…” 

The Shinobi had already taken the hint before the count had even begun and disappeared into the darkness of the surrounding forest. As one of the sages in Ashura’s six she was still able to sense their chakra even if their bodies were hidden in the shadows. But they were faster than she had anticipated and were putting a good distance between them. Ryuuji must have noticed because his arrogant smile quickly folded into a grimace of annoyance. “five, four, three- damn it- ONE!” A series of explosions went off from the augmented sage’s arms and what must have been hundreds upon hundreds of tiny missiles shot out and sped towards the retreating enemy. Seconds later hundreds of red fiery flowers bloomed in the distant darkness and Mito couldn’t sense anything else except for sage chakra of the six of them there.   
“Talk about overkill,” Mahoko commented from her rock perch. The young sage claimed that her path was hardly suited for combat, but that was only partially true. It was however, when the battle was at its hottest and the casualties at its highest that the young girl shined most. “Haha, you’re just jealous you don’t have guns like these!” Ryuuji laughed, making a show of blowing the smoke from his arms. “It seems all the remaining enemy camps have been cleared young master Amida,” old man Kichi stated. “Perhaps it is best we return to the village and report to the elders of our progress.” “Agreed,” Although there was no doubt Amida was by far the superior in strength to any of them there he always spoke to the old man with the utmost respect, as though he were in fact the leader of the six.

The group made ready to leave with Amida walking ahead and leading the way. All were present except for one. Mito stopped and looked around her. “Mihoko,” she called out. “Mihoko where are you, come on we’re leaving.” It didn’t take her long to find the girl standing frozen behind her, however her state was gravely concerning. She was trembling fiercely, sweating a torrent and even though she always kept her small eyes hidden behind long red bangs Mito could tell they must have been as big as saucers. “Mihoko wants wrong?” Mito asked, rushing to her side. Mito’s commotion seemed to have alerted the others and they too came to a halt. “The village, it’s the village,” the girl struggled to get the words out while panting. Mihoko easily had the strongest sensory abilities of them all and even from where they were she could have clearly made out the presences of every single village in Uzushiogakure. The problem was so many of them were fading out… and fast.

From that it didn’t take long for the rest of the six to catch on. “Quickly! Move!” Before Mito could even think about it she was bounding through the air alongside her fellow five sages, leaping from branch to branch as fast as she could manage. Who could have made it past their perimeter barriers without alerting their sensory shinobi? Besides the Uzumak,i the only Senju that had knowledge of the jutsu to bypass it were her old friend Hashirama Senju and his brother Tobirama. But would Hashirama go so far as to betray them like this?   
It made no sense, their clans had always been allies, even before their own times. She wondered if Tobirama would have had anything to do with it, after all he was the one who tied Hashirama’s hands and stopped him from sending any aid to help in the defence of Uzushiogakure. But even so, he had no reason to hate the Uzumaki and even if he did, why would he aid any of the other villages he hated even more than Uzushiogakure to bring them down? No matter how hard she thought about it Mito could not come to any answers that made any sense. 

“Mihoko, how many enemies are there?” Amida called back to her. They were getting closer quickly but still their sage abilities were out of range to make out a clear image. “Seven,” she responded meekly. “No…eight, there’s a dog with them it seems.” A dog? Mito knew only a few shinobi villages that were proficient enough in utilising ninja hounds for an attack like this, and even fewer that were good enough to pull off an attack with just one. “You’re kidding right?” Ryuuji scoffed, slowing down to match Mihoko’s speed. “You seriously have us running back scared like that for seven idiots who rushed in for a suicide mission against an entire village of shinobi?” “I doubt Mihoko would have been that worried if these were just any seven shinobi,” Kichi reasoned. “Clearly even calling them elite would be an understatement. After all they must have somehow snuck past our barriers without our sensors noticing and that is a feat in and of itself.” “Huh, I just think those nerds sitting in that sensory room got more than they could handle with all these attacks and messed up that’s all,” Ryuuji rebutted. “Well, doesn’t matter, we'll just kick all their asses if they’re that desperate to die. Hell, I’ll kill them myself, it's only seven.”   
It wasn’t long before they were finally in range of the village. Mito could see the slight glow on the horizon grow brighter and the smell of smoke and blood was unmistakable. A few moments later and she could make the images out clearly with her own sage abilities. ‘Mihoko was right’ she was shocked at the revelation. ‘There really only are seven of them.’ It went without saying, they needed to hurry and hurry they did.

‘The Southern gate’ Mito felt a slight sense of relief finally seeing the familiar wall of her home but even that was overshadowed by the mortifying scene that lay behind them. High as the walls were, she saw the pillars of thick black smoke charging up to great heights and the flames that had birthed them. A loud blood curdling shriek from above made her stop just as she leapt onto the unmanned wall and forced her attention skyward. ‘Is that… a moth?’ “Come on Mito, there’s no time to stand still!” Kichi urged her forward as he jumped from the wall onto the nearest rooftops descending as he did. Mito followed the old man and eventually touched down on the main road leading from the Southern gate and stretching all the way to the centre of the village. Amida and the others were making their way to the centre as well but from the rooftops instead.   
The entire scene was a nightmare, fire and corpses everywhere. Mito didn’t know if she wanted to cry or vomit at that moment, although it was not like she was given a moment to decide. She and Kishi had only started running when two of their own villagers bounded in front of them, seemingly running away from something. From their angle against the light of the flames Mito could not make out the faces on the silhouettes, it was only the reflection of orange against their metal headbands that gave any indication that they were allies.   
“You two, what’s going on here!” Kishi had barely finished the question when it suddenly became clear what it was they were fleeing from. Two clean sword strikes was all it took to bring down the Uzumaki duo before them. Their murderer stood over them, almost gloatingly as he let the blood drip down the edge of his blade down onto their lifeless bodies. The figure had moved so elegantly and with such mastery, it was difficult for Mito to accept her estimate that it was a child of around eleven or twelve. Still something about him and his chakra felt so eerily cold. 

“Oh no!” Kishi exclaimed after an assessment of his own. “Mito don’t look into his eyes!” But it was too late, she had been too curious, too anxious to know. Before she could avert her eyes she had to see for herself who was responsible for this all. The warm light of the fire gave her nothing but a silhouette but was still kind enough to illuminate the headband on the forehead. “Hashirama… why?” The silhouette scoffed back and pointed the sword at her. “It was naïve of us to think you six wouldn’t show up. But trust me when I say it won’t make a difference.” Mito knew a baseless threat all too well, there were far too many pompous shinobi out there who overestimated their own abilities. But this child, this boy… Even in the darkness she could see in his eyes he spoke truthfully, a cold dark truth. Glowing eyes filled with hatred and love and pain and deep suffering.   
Sharingan eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to comment any feedback


	3. Konoha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is Konoha's role in this battle?

Kagami looked down from the roof of the Hokage mansion at the bustling village below. It was hard to believe that a village that had only been born a year before him was already this big. Although when one really put some thought to it, it made sense. So many legendary shinobi clans had agreed to be part of its formation, of course it would attract scores of lesser clans seeking protection and perhaps the crumbs of glory that their bigger counterparts had to offer. Not to mention the endless list of talented shinobi that had been born there or come to call this place home. Takeo Uchiha, Ken Inozuka, Kenji Saritobi, the great Hatake twin kunoichi Akemi the Unbreakable and Aki the Unstoppable, Ringo the snake sage and even the ‘Lady of Illusions’ Sachio, whose genjutsus were so powerful even some of the toughest sharingan struggled to repeal them. These were but a few of the many legends that called themselves Leaf shinobi. But all these names combined could not even think of holding a candle to the likes of the Great Hashirama Senju or the fearsome Madara Uchiha.

In fact not a day went past where Kagami didn’t hear a new story about the marvel that was Madara from his fellow Uchihas. To their clan he was more than just a person, he had surpassed infallible ages ago and ascended to a level that many said would be unknown to the shinobi world for at least a thousand years. Although there were large enough factions within the clan that had begun to disagree with his styles of leadership since the agreement that had ended the bitter feud between Senju and Uchiha and founded the Hidden Leaf Village, they all still had to agree that he was the embodiment of everything shinobi. Whether it was fear or awe that kept them in line, Kagami doubted it mattered much to Madara. 

With all that Kagami could not help but feel the weight of how surreal it was that he so often spoke with the man. It may only be some few words in passing or short instructions and questions, but that was more than most Uchiha received. For that Kagami had his master Tobirama to thank. If it hadn’t been for their connection, there would have been no way he would have any chance of even thinking to speak to Madara. Even from where he stood, all the way up on top of the Hokage’s mansion, the god of the Uchiha still seemed so much bigger than everyone else on the road below, even though by now he was nothing more than the size of a speck in the distance. Where he was going Kagami was not sure but the man had told him to pass a message to the Hokage or anyone else who might be looking for him that he was going out for a meeting and that he wouldn’t be back for some days. He had mentioned something about the Tsuchikage and his apprentice, Onoki, if he remembered the name correctly.

However, Kagami was not left with much time to wonder about what his clan’s leader was truly up to as a messenger hawk had arrived. He raised an arm to provide a perch for the bird and another to shield his eyes from the glare of the setting sun. “Ya, this is definitely Takeo’s hawk,” he said as he took the scroll from the compartment strapped to the bird’s leg. The hawk was uniquely Takeo’s that much was certain and almost just as battle hardened as its master judging from the numerous scars it had on its legs and face. 

Kagami unrolled the piece of paper and let the hawk fly off to find another more suitable perch elsewhere nearby. Uzushiogakure barrier penetrated. Proceeding with attack. Tell Master Tobirama the plan will be completed by the end of the night. Takeo Uchiha. “I sure hope this man never tries his hand at literature, this was drier than the Hokage’s pastries he keeps trying to bake for-” “Someone said something about my pastries?” Kagami’s soul nearly sprung out of his body. The young shinobi just managed to keep himself from falling as he turned to face the figure that had snuck up on him. “Oh, Lord First, it's you!” “Hey there young Kagami, whatcha doing up here?” The First Hokage smiled his trademark stupidly wide yet cheerful Hashirama smile. “Oh, boy if you liked my pastries so much you should have just said. I would be more than happy to make you more, a whole mountain’s worth in fact!” The Hokage threw his head back as he gave a laugh that Kagami was sure was loud enough for the whole village to hear. “I’m glad to see that there’s actually someone with some good taste out there. Tobirama keeps telling me they’re awful but I’m beginning to think that he’s just grumpy because he spends all his time trying to come up with new jutsu. New jutsu is a fine thing to have in battle against an unsuspecting enemy but a good sweet pastry is the perfect way to stop the violence and make peace.” “Yeah, you’ll also stop their breathing choking on those dry ‘pastries’.” “What was that young Kagami?” “Oh, nothing Lord First I was just saying I can’t wait to try more of your sweet sweet pastries.”

The lie sent the First into a roar of laughter and had him babbling on about new recipes he was thinking of using. After a few minutes both Kagami and the Hawk couldn’t take any more of it, although it was only the hawk that had the strength to leap off the building and fly away. “Wait a minute was that a messenger hawk?” Hashirama looked up. “So does that mean I got another message?” The man’s face folded and dropped in defeat. “Why can’t people understand I’m just still a man too. I can’t work all day, my head hurts just from reading letter after letter and now they want to send more when my day comes to an end.” The situation was so painfully awkward but still Kagami did not have the heart to just up and leave the Hokage like that. “Hey wait, I’ve got an idea,” Hashirama quickly pulled himself together and was again all smiles and laughter. “You can just read it to me.” 

A sudden panic took over the young Uchiha. Perhaps it would have been better if he had followed Takeo’s hawk’s advice and left earlier. “Oh, no Lord First unfortunately I can’t do that, you see the letter was addressed to Master Tobirama so it’s for his eyes only and all that you know,” he tried keeping a convincing face hoping that the Hokage would not enquire further after that. It was unfortunately the exact opposite. Something about hearing his brother’s name had sparked some sort of interest in him. “To Tobirama you say,” Hashirama said, visibly intrigued. “Now I’ve got to read it. I’ve noticed my brother has been sending a lot more messages out there recently but of course he would never tell me what they’re all about… but no you’re right I should respect his privacy… but at the same time I am the Hokage, so me looking at what it is wouldn’t necessarily be wrong would it? If anything, this could be a matter of security, and I as Hokage would need to know so…” 

“No!” Kagami had not wanted to snap like that but Hashirama had made an attempt to reach for the letter in his hand. “I mean… I just don’t think my master would want you to see this,” he tried to ease his tone this time. “It's kind of…. Kind of embarrassing I guess.” “You read it didn’t you,” Hashirama said sternly, glaring down at the young shinobi. Something about seeing the happy-go-lucky Hokage he had always known look so serious made him more afraid than he had expected. “Then you must know what it says and who sent it.” The Hokage started slowly pacing towards him. Kagami tried to retreat but only a few steps back and he was already against the railing. He could jump from level to level and probably make it to the ground to escape but even if he did there would be no chance he could escape the First. Still it was probably the only chance he had. 

But before he could make any decision the Hokage was already on him, staring at him face to face. “So tell me young Kagami… Is it a love letter?” He reverted back to his usual stupid Hashirama smile, all while trying to make a grab for the paper in Kagami’s hand. “It’s that kunoichi from the Rain isn’t it? I saw him talking with her the whole time when we had our last meeting there. Or maybe the Raikage’s sister, Kei, oh she’s really pretty! Or perhaps it’s a local girl. No no, it's Mito Uzumaki, he’s always had a thing for her, we’ve been competing for her attention since we were boys! Oh, come on let me see let me see, I’ve got to see.” Try as he might, Kagami could not escape the clutches of the First and before he knew it the man had pried the paper from his hands and bound back several feet so that there was a considerable distance between them.

“Now for the moment of truth, let’s see who my brother has the hot’s for,” he said with a stupid grin as he unrolled the sheet. Kagami took a few steps to try and take it from him but he stopped once he realised it was futile. It wasn’t long before the Hokage’s grin slowly dropped and he was gritting his teeth in pure rage. The fear that Kagami had felt before looking at Hashirama’s stern face was nothing compared to the terror he had now and would soon face. 

“Lord First wait, let me explain-” Before Kagami could get another word out he was bound in a wrapping of tree trunks tightly wound around his body in interlocking patterns. Kagami didn’t know what it was about them but it felt as if they were not only tightening around his whole body but sapping the chakra from it too. “Where is Tobirama now?” Kagami tried to remain strong and bore through the pain in silence. When the Hokage realised the young Uchiha wouldn’t respond he interlocked his fingers and pressed his palms together. It was as if the harder he pressed his hands the tighter the grip became. So tight in fact Kagami couldn’t hold to his silence anymore. He let out an excruciating scream, one he was sure everyone close to the Hokage’s mansion would have heard. But that didn’t seem to sway the Hokage himself. Kagami knew the man wouldn’t kill a fellow Leaf shinobi and definitely not a child, not over something like this. But he wasn’t so sure if the man had the kindness to refrain from maiming him.

The binding only got tighter and tighter with every second but to Kagami it felt like he had been holding out forever. Eventually he heard a crack and his will broke. “He’s on his way here now!” he groaned. “Master Tobirama was supposed to meet me on the rooftop now for me to relay the message. I was sent up first to deal with any complications that might have come.” With that the branches fell back into hole in the floor from where they had appeared and Kagami dropped, gasping for air. ‘A broken rib?’ his whole body hurt but that was the worst of it it seemed. ‘I suppose I should consider myself lucky considering the jutsu.’ “Then we’ll just have to wait and let my little brother explain himself when he gets here.”

And wait they did. It was not long before the door leading from the mansion’s last stairway to the roof clicked and began to open. By then the sun had completely set and been chased from the sky by the moon which was on its ascent with an army of stars. Kagami had been left in the same place, seated against the railing and clutching at his broken rib while Hashirama stood in wait on one of the four overhanging arches that had been erected at the corners of the roof platform. 

“Huh, Kagami?” His master froze when he found the state his student was in. “Are you alright? What happened here?” “Master… I’m sorry,” Kagami said so softly he could barely even hear himself speak. He had just about crossed half of the platform in his rush for his pupil when a sudden cry from above froze him in place once more. “TOBIRAMA!” 

A small forest sprouted around the Senju in an instant and came crashing down. Had it been anyone but Tobirama they would likely have been killed by such a surprise attack. Still, Kagami was relieved to see his master well and alive crouched by his side. “I may need to borrow this sorry,” Tobirama said as he reached into Kagami’s utility pouch to pull out a kunai with a leather wrapping around its handle. “Also now do you understand I have all of my pupils carry one of these?” He flashed the teleportation seal that had been marked onto the wrapping. 

The First leapt down from his vantage point on the arch, kicking up a cloud of dust as he landed. When that had settled the silver moonlight that hit his dark brown eyes reflected nothing but pure violence. Kagami wondered if this man had perhaps forgotten that the target of his rage was his own brother. Around the Hokage’s face were dark symmetrical markings, the likes Kagami had only heard of in stories. ‘Sage Mode…’. 

“Explain yourself Tobirama,” Hashirama spoke in a low yet sharp tone and then threw the letter his brother's way so that it landed face up at his feet. Despite this, Kagami’s master hardly reacted and kept his usual calm indifferent composure. “Hmm, I see you’ve got on big brother,” he said glancing at the page and knowing exactly what it was about. “Is that all you have to say for yourself!” Hashirama shouted back. “Kagami look out!” The young Uchiha had been fortunate enough to have a master who was able to react to the sheer speed and power that was the first Hokages. The younger Senju brother had managed to push his pupil out of the way while in the nick of time dodging the giant overgrowth that was hurtling in his direction. 

Below, the bustling village had come to a standstill as all the nearby villagers stopped what they had been doing or came outside their homes to try and see why a forest had just suddenly and so violently sprouted on their Hokage’s rooftop.   
“Damn it Hashirama that’s your problem!” Tobirama shouted back while drawing his sword. “You don’t ever think about anything, you just let your emotions dictate your every decision and run in head first leaving me to pick up the pieces and try to make every ludicrous idea of yours make even a fraction of sense!” “Don’t you dare talk down to me like that, not this time, not for this!” Another forest emerged seemingly out of nowhere. The younger threw Kagami’s kunai as high into the air as he could and then vanished before the first trunk could hit him. 

“The Uzumaki are our allies, our relatives Tobirama!” Hashirama screamed at his brother. “What about that bond? What about Mito?” Another flurry of trees rose up to try to entrap the airborne Senju but this time he didn’t need his teleportation technique to avoid them. A series of mid-air twists and turns was enough and he was grounded again on the newly grown trunks, running down to face his own brother. “There you go again Hashirama! Sentimental, sentimental, sentimental! Think with your head for once!” 

Either the scene before him had been so impressive or he was too terrified but Kagami did not move an inch from where he was. As the battle between Senju brothers raged on he noticed three figures appear beside him as if out of nowhere. 

“Wait hold on isn’t that Lord Tobirama?” Kagami looked to see who the speaker was but a white fox-mask blocked his face. “Damn it what do we do? We can’t attack him can we?” another with a raven’s mask said. “That’s the Hokage that’s being attacked you idiots,” the third, a kunoichi with a bear’s mask, stated. She was the first to draw her sword. “It doesn’t matter if it's his brother, his father or his own damn mother, we’re sworn to protect him so stop just standing there!” “Oh and do what exactly?” the first of them stopped her. “You see how intense this is. If we got involved, we’d just get in Lord First’s way.” Reluctantly the masked kunoichi was forced to agree, but she was still far from done there. “Hey you, kid!” she shouted, pulling Kagami up by the scruff with one hand. “You’re gonna tell us exactly what’s going on here. Now get talking or start bleeding.” She didn’t hesitate to make her threat with a sword’s edge on his throat. 

A swift downward sword strike but even against a master swordsman like Tobirama the sensory abilities of sage mode were too great, although still challenged. Hashirama could feel the locks of hair being sliced off. His brother was going for the kill, or in the very least a mauling blow. The two exchanged a series of blows, brother against brother, it was a typical battle from the story books. 

The last time Hashirama had ever felt so heavy about a fight was when he had last fought Madara, and even then the sentimentality of it all was far greater. He wondered why though. However, it was that pause for thought that was his demise. “Flying Raijin strike!” When did Tobirama throw the kunai behind him? Or perhaps did he drop it during his descent on the wood jutsu he had set against him. It didn’t matter, he had struck him with several fatal blows now. Was this what Izunu felt, one of the most powerful jutsus in his arsenal and yet he was still brought down by a simple teleportation technique. Hashirama fell down onto one knee and tried to hold himself together… it was hopeless. Tobirama had not held back even for a moment. ‘You didn’t hesitate even against me, just as a shinobi should. Father would be proud’ he thought to himself. ‘But what would our brother Itama think?’ 

“Look at you Hashirama,” Tobirama spoke firmly but without the tone of a gloating victor. “You hang on your sentimentalities and look where they got you? Why? Why wouldn’t you just listen to me. I told you this village system was a waste of time and yet you still went ahead and did it. Not only did you do it and convince all the other great ninja clans that this was a worthwhile endeavour you always pioneered it with one of our sworn enemies.” Just then Kagami saw Tobirama do two things he had never seen nor imagined his master would ever do. “You know it was awkward when I first came to terms with it,” Tobirama began to laugh, but the laugh carried not even the slightest ounce of joy in it. By the tear that ran down his master’s face Kagami surmised that it was irony that forced the laugh out of him. “You love him don’t you. You love a man who is from the clan that killed our own brother! And somehow… somehow you love him more than you could ever love me!” Hashirama quivered and let out a groan as his brother’s blade ran through him. “I’ll admit, your village system yielded some results Hashirama. But I can’t help but think that this is only going to worsen the situation. Clans had alliances before when they operated by themselves but now in a coherent village, who knows just how powerful they could be. Just how much damage they could cause. It sickens me to say this, but maybe that Uchiha bastard Madara has the right idea. Maybe if we have to go along with this ludicrous idea of yours we must make sure that the Leaf is undoubtedly the most powerful shinobi village there is. 

When you made this system, the old alliances and friendships faded away, you yourself made that clear when you allied us with the Uchiha. All that matters now is power. Don’t get me wrong I do not crave power for my own sake, I like you wish only to protect those dear to me. But in order to do that I need power. We need power. And I can’t let even you get in the way of that. I won't let the Uzumaki get in the way of that. 

Perhaps I did love Mito once, but that was a long time ago. When I was still naïve and young and before you changed the shinobi world completely. I cannot let such sentimentalities get in the way of the bigger picture I cannot let such sentimentalities get in the way of Konoha. I don’t desire to become Hokage, but if you stand in the way of this, if you don’t become the leader this village needs, I’ll do it myself.”

“Huh, I didn’t know you felt that way Tobirama,” Hashirama said in his last breath. “But, still I cannot let you go on with this plan,” a voice from behind the younger Senju called out. Even Kagami was confused. He had been following the fight with his sharingan while trying to explain the situation to the Anbu that had detained him. “Woodstyle, wood spirits jutsu!” At that Kagami watched as his master was encased in a small forest. The Hashirama that had been sliced up slowly began to discolour and the brown and grains became visible as they fell apart at the sections Tobirama had cut them at, hitting the floor with a thick wooden clunk. ‘A wood clone?’ Kagami realised. 

Even so Tobirama was not finished. Or so he thought. The kunai with the teleportation marking he had used finally hit the ground but just as he was about to escape the First crept out from the darkness he was hiding in and pressed his palms together. Immediately the wood that had imprisoned Tobirama shot out spikes that impaled the Senju in his arms and legs and rendered him immobile. Even if he were to teleport not with what little chakra remained he would be useless in a fight. 

“Tobirama…” The two senju stood face to face staring each other down eye to eye. “If anything I did it to fulfil your dream,” Tobirama stated weakly. “All I’ve ever done was to make your dreams come true.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any feedback or comments are welcome : )


	4. The Six vs The Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So while my friend was writing this he didn't have chapter names planned out so this was the original chapter title:The final Stretch pt1. (? or not?):

‘They… They’re all dead,’ Mito realised. ‘Amida, Kisha, Ryuuji, Mihoko,Satoshi…’ The young Uchiha shinobi had killed them all alone as though it was nothing. Was it possible? Was it possible that any shinobi could be so talented, even an Uchiha?

“Mito!” Mito felt a sudden surge in her body as he came back to reality. When she looked back she found Kisha with his hands on her shoulder. ‘Genjutsu’, she realised. How could she have been so naïve. It was common knowledge among all shinobi, “Never look an Uchiha in the eye.” But she was back now, and determined not to be distracted anymore. 

“Do it!” Kisha instructed her. “And make it a double!” She looked at the old man confused. Did he basically want her to perform a suicide mission? Each of Ashura’s six possessed one of the paths of the ancient sage Hagoromo, but only to a minuscule degree. Had it not been for their immense chakra levels even amongst the Uzumaki or their direct link to the sage’s son and successor Ashura they would never have been able to perform such feats. Still, these were insignificant when compared to the likes of Hagoromo or any of the other legendary wielders of the rinnegan. It was true, rinnegan wielders hardly heard of in the history of shinobi and many so called holders of the god-like dojutsu were dispelled as liars trying to reach higher levels of fame through deception. The other few that were not exposed had too few records on their names to confirm whether they truly possessed the eyes of the sage or not. 

Regardless, whether they existed or not Mito could not be the weaker link in the chain of those who inherited the power of the sage in truth or only in myth. The reality was the Uzumaki, through their link as direct descendants of Ashura possessed incredible chakra, not only in terms of resilience but potency too. So potent that in every generation or two there existed a group of six shinobi who reincarnated the chakra of the six paths handed down by the original inheritor and their father Ashura. Although the true reincarnation of Ashura was another story altogether.

It was on her fifth birthday that the Uzumaki elders arrived at her home and recognised her as one of the holders of Ashura’s inheritance of the sage’s chakra. Ten objects had been placed before her, mere toys in the eyes of a child. All she had to do was choose four of the correct ones and she would be declared an inheritor of the sage’s chakra that had been passed down through generations since Ashura’s death. The sun, the moon, and an oddly shaped eight shaped toy that was supposed to represent the universe and its infinity were what she clutched first. All signs of the sage had been confirmed. But to determine what path she wielded would be decided by the next object she chose. 

A three headed clay dog figurine. Chikushodo, the path of the animal. With her trust in the old man and that he would bring her back when the jutsu was done she but both thumbs in her mouth, between her canines and bit hard until she drew blood. The hand signs were so numerous and so rehearsed she barely even remembered what they were, even as a double, they merely came to her by instinct. 

“Summoning Jutsu!” she threw her palms down on the ground. The air was charged with smoke as two giant silhouettes appeared. Miko felt her chakra drained, completely empty. Her life given for her clan, for her village, in one last desperate jutsu. She fell back and faded out. She had done what she needed, she had surely saved her people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any comments are welcome : )


	5. Behold, our power!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original chapter title: The Final Stretch Part 2 (?)  
> As you can tell by the chapter count, this is not the final stretch

As the smoke cleared, even Inosuke was forced to look up in terror at the two colossal beings that had been conjured up before him. A great three headed dog the size of a seven story building and a massive drill beaked bird whose shriek nearly shuttered his eardrums. They were familiar, Inosuke had heard them from the fairy tales relating to the sage Hagoromo. Still, no sign of the mythical rinnegan was in their eyes as the stories foretold. Were these truly the summons of the ancient sage of the six paths? Were the stories of Ashura’s Six being the inheritors of his chakra not merely children’s stories?

Beyond them their summoner had disappeared, or so it seemed. The old man by the Uzumaki woman’s side had conjured up a being of his own. From the stories Inosuke recognised it as the ‘King of Hell’, a summon by the Naraka Path of the Six Paths. The demonic being had something in his mouth, still from the fairytales Inosuke knew it was safer to keep his distance, unless he wished to be caught in its grasp. It chewed and chewed and chewed some more eventually spitting up. The kunoichi, the animal path user reappeared, clearly with reinvigorated life-force compared to a moment before when she had just brought forth her summons. However, the same could not be said for the old man at her side. Summoning up the King of Hell, even to revitalise only one body, had certainly cost him plenty. However, he was still an Uzumaki and could not be underestimated. Even hunched over and wheezing there was no doubt in the boy’s mind that the man had an extra chakra reserve that would kick in at any moment.

“By the spirits it’s the Six!” Inosuke heard the call come from all around him. “Come on let’s regroup and support them. With them we can still win this!” Alone the boy had very little chance against six descendants of a sage of the six paths but against an entire regrouped and moralised army of Uzumaki? ‘It would be best to retreat for now,’ he told himself. He had enough skills in his arsenal to at least manage that.

“Oh no you don’t!” Inosuke had hardly bounded past a few buildings when he realised he was being chased. ‘How many he asked himself?’ as he kept rushing back. Suddenly the loud shriek he had heard from before sounded again and he saw the giant summoning bird taking to the air, chasing after Atsushi’s moth. The massive three headed hound was headed right for the rest of the Uchiha line. Still, he wasn’t the beasts primary target, his only pursuers turned out to be a handful of Uzumaki shinobi stupid enough to break formation.  
Inosuke continued a few more yards, if only to make sure the distance between him and the six was significant enough, and then stopped on one of the lower roofs in the village. ‘One, two, three… seven,” his sharingan counted in the fraction of a second. He then crouched down, forming the standard Yamanaka hand sign and aimed it at what seemed to be the strongest shinobi of the group. A pain shot through his eyes. He remembered. The trauma of seeing his mother die that mission, of seeing her mercilessly slaughtered because of his own carelessness. Just then he felt a trickle of blood run down his face. “Mangekyo sharingan, mind corruption jutsu!” 

And just like that the leading Uzumaki stopped in her tracks, kunai and sword in hand but nothing more than a blind agent of a boy’s will. “Sarai!... Wait… No, we’re on your side what the… Ahhh!” The deed was done in only a few seconds, a testament to the konoichi’s skill but the weakness of her mind. “What is your will my lord,” she said, staring blankly into the space beyond. “Humph, kill yourself for all I care, I’m done with you,” Inosuke replied indifferently making ready to regroup with his own team. “As you wish my lord!'' The kunoichi clicked her heels in salute to her master. Then just as Inosuke was leaping off the roof he heard the sound of steel cutting through flesh and muscle and a gargling similar to when his own mother had her throat slit and was left to drown in a pool of her own blood. 

Hardly had the boy moved a few rooftops when the second group of Uzumaki’s fell on him. “You bastard! You’ll pay for what you did to Rin!” Inosuke prepared to activate his mangekyo for the second time but the jutsu was so unfamiliar to him and instead caused him an unbearable pain that hindered his sharingan’s abilities rather than enhanced them.  
With his failure the new Uzumaki team seemed closer than ever, that was until he heard his salvations cry. ““Inuzuka-Uchiha style, firewheel fang over fang!” Suddenly twin flaming tornados surrounded him and engulfed half of his enemies, leaving the other half frozen in terror at the sudden and violent attack they had just suffered. 

“Kaori?... Kuromaru?” Inosuke looked back. “I definitely owe you two one.” “Do-do-don…Awooooo!- Don’t worry about it,” Kaori was clearly not himself anymore. His man-beast binding jutsu was beginning to take full effect now and he was clearly beginning to a good part of his human intellect. Both master and hound were foaming at the mouth, eager to get to their next target to do who knows what ungodly things to them. “Ju-j-j-jjjjj-just get out of here,” Kaori barely made the words out through his foaming jaws. “Or else I-I-I-I de-……I-………I-…. I de-de-de-de-de-defininetly am gonna do something I’m gonna regret to… Awhoooooooooooo! To you!” Indeed, Insouke wasted no time in heeding his fellow rabid Uchiha’s advice and the last thing he heard from that side of the battle field was, “Mu-mu-…Hehehehe….Awooooooooo- Multi-shadow clone Jutsu!” 

Bounding roof to roof was a task in itself. He was almost glad that his father had drilled endless parkour lessons into him. Above he noticed the summoning bird chasing Atsushi’s moth across the sky and wondered how the Aburame born Uchiha would deal with the situation. However, a more immediate issue presented itself with the three headed dog that had been running carefree through the village, clearly hunting down the first foreign scent it had caught whiff of …. Inosuka Uchiha.  
‘Damn it, damn it, damn it!” the giant mutt was almost on him. He figured Kaori was not done savaging his own targets to even notice the giant rival hound bounding past. Even if he was, what could he possibly do against it? Even as powerful of a taijutsu the fang over fang was, it stood no chance against the giant of a creature trailing him. ‘So this is how I die?’ Inosuke wondered. ‘wondering which of three heads I get chewed up by?’ The boy stayed wondering as he kept leaping but a sudden call seemed to come to his salvation. “Expansion Jutsu!” 

Inosuke stopped a moment and looked up at the new goliath before him, before smiling from ear to ear. “Chouje!” he called out gladly. “Hey don’t get too happy just yet,” she called back, holding back two of the heads of the biting monster with both of her hands. “Man oh man dog was not on my bucket list of foods to try.” The third head managed to snap down and draw blood from the giant Uchiha’s left cheek. “Greater partial expansion jutsu!” she cried, and before Inosuke knew it he was drenched in the blood of one of the exploded heads of the Cerberus. 

Unfortunately, before he even had a chance to celebrate the monster regenerated three heads per head it lost at the crushing hands it lost to the giant Akimichi-Uchiha kunoichi before it. Chouje then pushed back and threw the beast back to create some distance. “Man, I didn’t even get to try the fried grasshopper restaurant in the Aburame district,” she complained as she closed her eyes for only a brief moment. When she opened them they were no longer the standard sharingan pattern. Instead, from crimson blood and bleeding irises was the shape of three black blooming cherry blossom flowers. “Mangekyo Sharingan!” she shouted. “Akimichi style Susanoo!” 

It was only an instant, but before Inosuke knew it his closest friend had encased her enlarged body in an armour of purple chakra with the giant wings of a butterfly at her back and a chakra formed dual-wielded bow staff in her hands. 

Inosuke hardly had enough time to admire his friend’s sharingan’s talents when another rogue set of Uzumaki’s befell him. “Don’t think you’ll get away that easily Uchiha!” their leader cried. Inosuke tried to use even some of his mangkyo’s abilities but found he was still in between intervals. “Damn it!” he shouted as he bounded off again. 

‘At least fifteen of them this time’ he counted with his base sharingan when he finally got the chance to look back. He put all his faith in Chouje to handle the situation at hand so that they would have the opportunity to try all her favourite and desired foods when they got out of this mess. But for now it was his turn to try to stay alive. 

Building to building he leapt. He turned back again and to his amazement he found six more figures following him. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised Ashura’s Six finally came to the party,” he laughed to himself. Still this was far too much for him to handle, at least alone that was. The question was just how was he going to get out of this. 

“Shadow possession jutsu!” The flames of the burning village and the moonlight provided the perfect environment for Shika and her shadows to shine. “Hey Inosuke did you catch Kaori by any chance?” she asked him, her shadows having caught seven of the pursuing enemies. “Yeah, he’s up ahead,” Inosuke replied quickly, enjoying the few seconds his fellow Uchiha from the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance afforded him. “But he’s definitely gone a bit crazy I can tell you that.” “Didn’t expect any less,” Shika smiled. “That’s why I’m always paired with him after all. Got to restrain the beast. Anyway looks like you’ve got quite the counter attack coming after you, mind if I help?” “Ya, sure,” Inosuke ended his break there and took it as his chance to resume his strategic retreat. “Do as much damage as you can Shika!” “Oh don’t worry I plan to,” she smirked back. “Mangekyo sharingan…Nara-Uchiha style, inferno shadow trail jutsu!” Insosuke didn’t waste time marvelling at the spectacle of screaming incinerated corpses Shika had left. He had been on too many Ino-Shika-Cho-Uchiha missions to know just how terrifying her jutsus could be without the aid of Chouje or him. 

But seven dead still left eight after him, eight smart enough to not tangle with Shika at least. And beyond that the six were still close by. Something about him clearly pegged him as the ring-leader of this whole operation and the other shinobi they faced would be nothing more than a distraction. If they followed him, killed him, perhaps they would stop this whole mess. Or so they thought. Inosuke wondered if rushing back to his father was such a smart idea but the little boy in him, rather than the chunin Inosuke, was crying out for Takeo’s protection. With his sharingan he was sorting through the chaos before him, there were clearly still many more Uzumaki left to be killed but by the unstable fluctuations of their chakras it was clear too many of them had already surrendered in spirit and would route at the first chance they got. ‘guess that’s the power of the Uchiha,’ Inosuke wanted to gloat, however his pursuers didn’t give him the chance. 

“Eight trigrams-” Inosuke paused at the incredibly powerful chakra he sensed before him and with the prowess of the sharingan made the necessary adjustments to his next step to avoid the onslaught. “Uchiha-style, fire fist!” He was just in time. The first strike just missed the crown of the head, mid-flip. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for his enemies. “Two palms!” 

Inosuke looked back and saw the figure struck by Hirashi’s first attack incinerated into ash in an instant. ‘The poor fools,’ he thought sadly as he continued. “Four palms!” he heard clearly behind him. “ Eight palms! Sixteen palms!” From then on the sound of his comrade got fainter and fainter but the screams of his ash turned enemies was clear as day. “Thirty-two palms! Sixty-four palms! Ahhh… Hundred and twenty-eight inferno palms!” 

Even with that two Uzumaki besides the legendary six still remained. He was getting close now, he could sense his father, a fading yet closing figure in the distance, standing still as if awaiting something. If he had any chance against them he would have to make it to Takeo in time, but if he could he wasn’t sure.  
“Aburame-Uchiha style, blistering hornet swarm!” Atsushi provided what little support he could in the one downward descent he had trying to outmanoeuvre the giant bird at his tail. All that was left now was the six.

“Father I-” “There’s no need to worry son,” Takeo rose from a meditative stance and took up a fighting posture. The six stopped, clearly disturbed by whatever chakra Inosuke’s father possessed. 

“An uchiha with that kind of chakra?” one of the six with bangs covering her eyes stated. “Man, this really is overkill isn’t it,” another one, around Inosuke’s age added. “It doesn't matter, I’ll kill him right here and now!” The giant among them seemed the most confident about the outcome and clearly had the augmentations and apparent jutsu to show for it. Inosuke drew his sword and stood in front of Takeo, some vein effort to defend his own father perhaps. “Inosuke, step out of the way,” Takeo said.  
“Watch out, I don’t think he’s messing around here,” the old Uzumaki that Inosuke had seen hunched over said. The others seemed to take his word with great caution, even the bald one that spoke out afterwards. “It hardly matters,” he said, raising his hand at Inosuke’s father. “He’ll die here like the rest.”

“Oh is that so?” Takeo replied with an arrogant smile, he’s eyes still closed. “Well, I suppose we’ll just have to see about.” Inosuke wondered what the old man had up his sleeve to speak so confidently. Just before he could even finish his thought his father reclined his eyelids and revealed a doujutsu even he had never seen before. “Uchiha style, Heavenly- sage mode!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any feedback is welcome : )


	6. The Rush

The pace they were moving at was painfully too slow. Perhaps injuring Tobirama and his Uchiha underling to that extent was too far, not just for the Hashirama had faced but based on his principles on advancing the shinobi world. For how could he preach peace when he could hardly keep from harming his own blood at a simple altercation. 

Still, Tobirama and Kagame managed to keep a decent pace, besides if things got tricky Hashirama still had his own Anbu there to keep order and Tobirama had more of his underlings alongside, Danzo and Hiruzen Sariobi, the first of his own addition to the village project. It was hard to deny the affect the four-shinobi team system Tobirama had included to the village system was effective (in fact in a situation like this one wondered if it was perhaps too effective). The practice had produced the finest grade of young shinobi amongst the emerging generations, even exceeding Hashirama’s expectations and destining to overshadow the already dominant clans such as the Senju. Still, these underlings were not good enough to keep up with the pace that Hashirama wanted, not if he wanted to keep the highest extent of Tobirama’s damage from occurring. 

‘I’m sure this will be more than enough to keep them all in line,’ the Hokage thought to himself as he split himself in two and left his wood created double to watch over his brother and his pupils. ‘I need to rush forward’ he thought, ‘I need to reach Mito.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any comments are welcome : )


	7. The Sage of the Twelve Ray Heaven Path

“Can you feel that?” Kisha spoke to all of them at once. His tone was more cautious than Mito had ever heard it before. “This kind of sage chakra… it's unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. We would be wise not to underestimate him. Don’t attack alone unless you have to.” The old man was right. Even Mito could feel it. The Uchiha before them was different, his chakra was unlike the typical heavy, dark and furious kind of his clansmen. No, this was something light and pure, yet still somehow hot, like a white flame. 

“Screw that old man,” Ryuuji wasted no time in showing off his augmentations again and aiming another volley of missiles at the Uchiha before them. “Inosuke go bring back the others,” the sage Uchiha called to the boy, his gaze still never leaving them. His eyes were unlike any Mito had ever seen. Two bright yellow twelve rayed sun shapes took up most of the red eyes. In the centre of the suns was another red circle and within that inner circle were the three tomoes of the sharingan wheel. “I can handle them on my own for now but I won’t be able to maintain this form for long.” The boy hesitated to leave at first but the elder Uchiha turned back to give him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll be able to take down at least one or two of them by the time you get back.” The boy still appeared unsure but accepted the man’s words nonetheless. “Don’t die dad,” he said before running off. “Nagisa, Mihoko don’t let him get away!” Amida ordered. The two kunoichi were on him in an instant, leaping from rooftop to rooftop into the distance in hot pursuit.

“You arrogant bastard pay attention!” Ryuuji had long lost his patience by now and the unchecked confidence of the Uchiha before them did little to ease his temper. Sage or not, no one dared talk down to Ryuuji. “Die, die, die!” “Ryuuji wait!” Before Kisha could even reach out to stop him the giant had let loose the volley had set in his arms. The missiles whistled as they rushed towards the Uchiha before them but even facing all that the man seemed to remain unnerved. He just stood there, watching the projectiles come right at him. “So I see you’ve accepted your fate,” Ryuuji grinned. It certainly seemed that way, but what followed next left everyone in disbelief. Even till her dying breath Mito Uzumaki struggled to understand just how far Takeo Uchiha’s limits could reach.

“Amaterasu!” A second later and the projectiles had all disappeared, the whistling of missiles flying across the air nothing more than a ringing sound in Mito’s ears. “H-how?” To do what Takeo had done was one thing but to be able to leave the likes of Ryuuji frozen in awe and confusion was a feat worthy of acclaim in of itself. “There had to be at least a hundred of those, and he just…he just…” It wasn’t even just some massive blanket jutsu he had used to shield himself. No Takeo Uchiha had burnt all one hundred missiles to ash before they could even explode, setting each individual shot alight in the all-consuming black flames with pinpoint precision. And all in the fraction of a second. 

“The Amaterasu,” Kisha said in awe. “I’ve heard only legends of this jutsu, that it is only Uchiha who wield the finest of mangekyo sharingan that can use it. However, all mangekyou jutsu take a toll on their user, usually causing their eyes to bleed, and the Amaterasu exacts an even higher price on the eyes than those.” 

That seemed to be the case from the few master Uchiha Mito had seen in combat but then why was it that their opponent’s eyes had not shed even a single crimson tear? In the very least the pain should have had him hunched over and clutching his eye. Instead he just stood there, staring back at them with a straight and unbothered expression. “Ah, clever,” Amida seemed to realise the truth of it. “You’re using the incredible healing power of your sage art to prevent any damage to your eyes, or in the very least its making up for it so fast that any damage is negligible.” Their opponent did not respond with words, only a slight smirk of acknowledgment before taking the first steps towards them.

“Damn, it to hell with all that!” Ryuuji seemed to have composed himself back to his usual self. He closed the augmented missile silos in his arms and let off another series of violent metallic clicking and grinding sounds. This time he produced two long steel blades from his forearms that ran over the backs of his hands. “Sure maybe you can avoid my missiles but there’s no way you can dodge my blades. Now come here and let the greatest sage of the Asura Path gut you like the swine you are!” 

Despite his concerning fanaticism over explosive projectiles, Ryuuji was without a doubt perhaps the best close combat fighter among the six sages of Ashura’s Six. That and him being the fastest made him a deadly adversary. Even with her sage abilities Mito could hardly follow his every single one of his movements in a fight, all she could rely on were the snippets of him she picked up on here and there and this day was no different. She had barely even blinked but the image of Ryuuji was no longer where she had last left him. There was a considerable distance between them and the Uchiha but still he had crossed it in a flash painlessly. “And I’ll gut you with this!” He shouted, going in for a scissor cut that Mito had seen split a thick redwood trunk before in one slice. “No way,” she found herself dumbfounded in disbelief once more. 

Not only had the blades missed their mark the sage of the Asura Path was sent flying by an upward kick aimed at his bottom jaw when the Uchiha had flipped back into a handstand to avoid the coming onslaught. His legs tucked in, knees nearly at his face and with one explosive spring from his arms he had sent both feet into the underside of his opponent’s head.   
Still, it would take more than that to keep Ryuuji down. Bleeding and with a mangled jaw the sage rose to his feet with his arms up in a fighting stance. He attempted to hurl a few more taunting words at the Uchiha but the broken jaw would not allow him to form any comprehensible words. So instead the giant let out a crazed laugh and then gave a loud ear-splitting battle cry before charging back in. Strike after strike he went in but it was all futile. The Uchiha was on a whole other level it seemed. He avoided every blow so effortlessly, with such elegant and fluid motions almost as if he were dancing rather than fighting. One moment he was under Ryuuji, the next he was at his side and after that behind him, all without hardly raising a hand even to block or deflect. 

“Damn it Ryuuji don’t be a fool, come back so that I can heal you with the King of Hell!” The old man had already done the summoning once to revitalise Mito which meant he was probably edging dangerous levels of low chakra himself. Still, he more than likely had enough in him to perform one or more healings, although the more damaged Ryuuji came in the more the King of Hell would demand of the old sage. Ryuuji looked back for only a brief moment and gave a loud blood gargling howl in protest to the offer of assistance. Although, it was that distraction that was all that was needed to bring the fight to its final scenes. 

“Amaterasu.” Ryuuji howled as the black flames climbed up his left arm. Try as he may he could not shake them off and it became clear then what he had to do. With one last final mighty blow he raised his right blade and brought it down with all his strength letting off another blood curdling howl. He stumbled back, panting as he gripped the stump at his left shoulder. His sage abilities would likely close the wound fast enough to prevent significant blood loss but it could do nothing for his arm. Perhaps in a normal circumstance he could have sown it back on and allowed the sage art to help with the reattachment, but that seemed unlikely with the pile of ash that had been left before him. 

“I’ll end your suffering now,” the Uchiha said sternly as he crouched down into a fighting stance. The giant sage seemed to have accepted his fate, attempting a smile with his shattered jaw but still it was hard to hide the fear and disappointment in his eyes. The final blow came in but just as it was about to land Mito heard Amida’s voice call out. “Shinra Tensei!” The repulsion lacked the same godly force as that a wielder of a rinnegan would have but it was still a far cry from being harmless. Furthermore, Amida’s drawback was considerable. Besides every move being a massive drain of his chakra it came with a fifteen cool down period between each one. Until he had recharged Mito knew it was up to her and Kisha to carry the battle. 

The Uchiha sage rose to his feet once more, this time blood poured from a cut in his forehead and some more from the corners of his mouth. “Well damn,” he smiled. “That’s on me for being so careless. I’m up against Ashura’s Six after all, what was I thinking? Oh well, don’t expect me to put my guard down like that again.” 

The two sages had been chasing him for a good few minutes now and still Inosuke could not find any of his fellow Uchiha. That was except for Chouje and Atsushi but they were clearly still very much locked in battle against the Animal Path sages summons. He tried to follow the sounds of battle here and there but whenever he identified one and made his way there it stopped just before he reached the location and he found nothing but a pile of freshly dead bodies but no Uchiha. This was perhaps the one time he cursed their clan’s prowess and effectiveness in battle. 

“Don’t think I’m gonna let you get away!” the little sage could not have been more than eight from the looks of it. ‘Got to try to slow them down.’ “Firestyle, fireball jutsu!” He didn’t expect to inflict any damage but Inosuke was sure it would be enough to at least slow them down so that he could have the space to think. However, his face sunk in horror when he saw the giant roaring flames he had breathed getting sucked into nothingness in the palms of the child sage before him. “Is that all you’ve got?” She grinned back at him. “Give me a real fight already! Come on I wanna tussle!” “Nagisa focus please!” the older chastised her. 

‘Damn it, really thought that would give me more space,’ Inosuke realised the time he had wasted on performing the jutsu had done the exact opposite. Even if he were to try turn and run now he was well within range of even a short-medium ranged attack. ‘No choice then,’ he could barely grip the hilt of his sword and the trembling made him miss drawing the blade a few times before he could finally pull it out. This feeling of fear, of absolute hopelessness, it felt so foreign so distant, like something from his distant younger days that he thought he had grown out of like wetting the bed. The rattling sound his sword made in his shaking hands rung back memories of the day he had watched his own mother die before him. It was supposed to be a simple D ranked mission, something even a child of seven could manage, nothing special just a delivery. Perhaps that’s why she had given in to his insisting to accompany her. “Alright fine, but don’t tell your dad or the Hokage, or they’ll have my head for bringing you along,” she smiled back. That was the last time he ever saw her smile.

It wasn’t even as though they had been looking for spies, in fact they hadn’t even noticed them on their stroll back to the village. But perhaps it was because they had come so close to the four Cloud shinobi’s hiding place that it spooked them or maybe they merely wanted blood for the sport of it, it certainly wouldn’t have been an unexpected urge for any ninja. Inosuke had drawn his sword to try and help but after seeing the fearsome jutsu the enemy threw at his mother he became nothing more than a statue, the only parts of him that moved were the tears from his eyes and the sword that rattled in his hands. 

“Oh man, this kid’s no threat,” he remembered one of the Cloud ninja laughing when he saw the state Inosuke was in. “Let’s head back, we’re done here anyway and it wouldn’t do my reputation any good if they heard I was out here murdering a child who can’t even hold a sword right yet.” The others laughed and put back their weapons, even having the audacity to walk right past him. He remembered the last one stopping in front of him and yanking the Leaf headband right off his brow. “I think I’ll keep this as a memento,” he laughed. Just before he left he rubbed a bloody hand right down the length of the boy’s face. “Here, something to remember your mama by. Also, go change your pants kid, a ninja who wets themselves in the middle of battle? What is that Piss-no-jutsu?” And just like that, it was as though he were reliving that same moment again, faced off against opponents well beyond his own league and hopeless.

“Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!” he tried to snap himself out of it. They may have been sages of Ashura’s Six, but he was not going to go down in history as the master of ‘Piss-no-jutsu’, even if that meant death. With a firm grip on his handle, he steadied his footing and rushed towards the youngest and presumably weakest of them. Her jutsu was clearly based on chakra absorption, but if he went in with a blade she would have no chance of stopping him. Besides, she was still so young, sage or not, there was no way she had the experience to go handle someone like him. 

He copied a sword strike combination he had witnessed Madara Uchiha perform during a training session with his father and the other Uchiha elite. It was far from a perfect replication but it would still be a fatal blow. That was if it had hit. Before his feet even touched the ground again he heard the giggling of a little girl from behind him. “Come on, is that it?” he felt the strike of a kick send him flying. ‘Is this the enhanced strength of sage art?’ he wondered. No way a little girl like that should have the power to knock him back like that. 

Inosuke had just managed to find his footing again and was about to rush in for another strike when the air around them suddenly sounded with the ringing of steel against steel. ‘Damn it, where did he come from?’ Inosuke wondered as he drew back his blade from the parry of the opposing Uzumaki shinobi. It took him only a moment to realise that the body in front of him was in fact not alive, at least not in the usual sense. It was only a moment later that his sharingan caught sight of the familiar sage chakra that surrounded this body, but it seemed to be flowing into it. ‘Is…is that a rod?’ his bewilderment stopped him for a moment. Indeed, it turned out to be a large black rod that was protruding from the back of the shinobi’s neck. Attached to it was a long stretch of purple chakra chains, linking their way back to the other sage with the long hair covering her face. She was panting slightly. The jutsu seemed to remind him of his own mind corruption technique but whatever it was it was certainly considerably draining on the user. ‘I guess imparting your own chakra and controlling an already dead body can’t be an easy task by any means,’ Inosuke surmised. 

Regardless of how impressive the technique was it still meant that his fight had just become even more impossible than it already had been before. ‘Guess, if I’m gonna die let me die with honour,’ he said to himself as he took up a fighting stance. ‘I hope you’re watching mama, and please no lectures on my kenjutsu stances when I get up there.’   
He was just about to rush in to his suicide mission when the sudden sound of two familiars calls crying out in unison caught his attention and made him stop. “Uchiha-Inuzuka style!” the one shouted. “Eight trigrams, Uchiha style!” the other. “Firewheel fang-over-fang!” “Fire fist, singeing air palm!”

Just then twin flaming vortices fell from the sky and consumed the zombie ninja before Inosuke with such intensity that even he nearly fell over and got scorched from the force of it. Not long after a rushing gust so hot passed by that it dried the air around him. At first it seemed pointless and the little girl absorbed the chakra flames that came towards her but the force of the wind that carried them still seemed to hold an effect and repelled her back. 

“How did you guys manage to find me,” Inosuke asked, both confused and relieved to see his comrades appear before him. “We just followed the scent of piss and terror and knew it must be you,” Kaori broke into a combined howl and laugh. Inosuke looked down at the space between his legs to confirm but was again relieved to find that there had been no repeat of his Piss-no-jutsu, though he still found no appreciation for part-Inozuka’s jokes. “That and it was quite easy to see you in trouble with my byakugan,” Hiroshi added. “I noticed you and your father were in a bit of trouble when these Six appeared so I took it upon myself to find the others and tell them to regroup with Takeo. The others are on their way and once, Chouje and Atsushi are done with those behemoths they’ll meet up with us there. For now, let the three of us deal with these two.” 

“Oooo, puppies!” the little sage shouted mockingly as she rose to her feet again. “Who you calling a puppy you little chew toy?” Kaori barked back, frothing from the mouth as he did.   
“Careful, the little one is no joke,” Inosuke warned him. “She has some kind of ability to absorb the chakra of ninjutsu and on top of that she’s a sage. The other one, seems to have some kind of chakra abilities to control even the dead with chakra rods and chains.” 

“Chakra absorption you say,” Hiroshi smiled, once again taking up the Hyuga’s eight triagram stance. “Well then this is going to be more simple than I thought.” “Nagisa, watch out I don’t think these guys are gonna be easy by a long shot,” the elder sage shouted at her comrade. “It would be better if we retre-” “And miss out on all this fun?” the younger one interrupted. “You can go back if you want Mahoko but I sure ain’t sharing these three with the others.” 

“So you can absorb ninjutsu I hear?” both Hirashi and the girl grinned at each other, each taking up a fighting stance of their own. “How unfortunate for you that the fundamentals of my technique don’t use chakra that way. You might be able to steal the flames from my hands but can you stop my fists?” Something about Hirashi’s words made the little girl withdraw her grin and an expression of slight concern replaced it. “Also don’t think, I’ll go easy on you just because you’re- what eight, nine? You’re still a sage after all, and a sage of Ashura’s Six on top of that.” The other one tried to make one final attempt to get her partner to withdraw, “Nagisa, listen this isn’t a game!” Still, even now it was all in vain. “Bring it on!” the little girl said, her arms raised and ready for a fight. 

“As you wish,” Hirashi smiled. “Byakugan, eight trigrams, fire fist! Two palms!” Fast and strong as Hirashi was, the girl was still able to block his two strikes at her and just as before the flames that had accompanied his moves were absorbed into the palms of her hands. “Four palms!” still she was able to keep up. “Eight palms!” Again she blocked but this time she was far more on the defensive than ever, and worry was beginning to creep across her face. “Sixteen palms!” It was there, in the fifth and ninth strike that Inosuke’s sharingan noticed hits landing on her, although they were clearly not vital chakra points by the fact she still managed to hold her own against him. “Thirty-two palms!” The fires were still being quenched by the child sage but now at least six strikes had made their mark on her. 

“Nagisa!” the other one cried in vain. It was too late to intervene now, all she could do now was watch until the half Hyuga, half Uchiha had finished his barrage and pray that her younger comrade made it out of it alive. Although after recalling Hirashi’s top strike had been the hundred and twenty-eight palms, more than most Hyuga could even dream of, Inosuke found survival unlikely. “Sixty-four palms!” That was it! One good strike on one of her central chakra points was all Hirashi needed to get her to spit up blood. “One hundred and twenty-four palms!” “Nagisa!”

“Oh, man that’s a tough little bitch right there,” Kaori laughed but even he was in awe at such a young child’s resilience. “Oh? That’s it?” she was croaking and unable to stop the waterfall of blood pouring out from her mouth but still she somehow had the strength to smile through it all. “That stupid trick might have worked against anyone else but I’m a big girl and an Uzumaki too so if you’re finished I’d like to-” Hirashi was not finished. Visibly exhausted and impressed by her fortitude yes, but not finished. This was it, the furthest he had ever pushed himself and the person who had brought him there was nothing more than an eight-year-old girl. “TWO-HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX PALMS!” 

“Y-y-YOU BASTARDS!” The other one cried as she watched her comrade’s eyes turn blank before her body went into a violent blood-spitting spasm and dropped to the ground, still as stone. “C-c-calm down redhead- awhoooooooh!” Kaori was clearly still very much in his man-beast binding state even now. “You really think you have a chance against the four of us?” Kuromaru barked as if to repeat the same question. “Or maybe you’d like the privilege of facing off with us instead?” “Don’t underestimate her Kaori, she won’t be an easy opponent,” Hiroshi tried to warn him but he struggled to even make the sentence from his panting mouth. 

“P-p-piss… Awooooooh! P-piss off! You had your chance, we’re not like you who struggles to win against little girls,” Kaori laughed. “Just run back and try back up Takeo, we’ll be with you soon anyway.” Inosuke was just about to interject and try to offer his assistance but Hiroshi had already taken him by the shoulder and pulled him in the direction of his father. “I hate to say it but Kaori is right,” he mumbled while whipping the torrents of sweat from his brow. Even now the Uchiha was still struggling to stand but something within him refused to rest and leave Takeo by himself. Perhaps it was this ‘Will of Fire’ that Lord Madara and Hashirama kept babbling on about that drove him. 

“Awoooooooh!” The two of them left Kaori and Kuromaru with one final howl before bounding off back to Takeo. “Shika is close,” by the pulsing veins in Hirashi’s white eye Inosuke knew his comrade was telling the truth. “And look, Chouje and Atsushi are finishing up their battles too.” Indeed, when Inosuke looked up he saw the flying insect style users chakra fluctuating for some big final move against the green bird summon that was chasing him across the sky. He nearly fell into a panic when the drill beak pinched the giant moth’s abdomen and made it give off an ear-bursting hellish shriek, followed by a cloud of smoke to signify its disappearance. Still the fall did not seem to hinder Atsushi and with one last hand sign he let off some great cloud of insect Inosuke had never seen that completely covered the bird and before it could be consumed by the all-consuming swarm it disappeared into the same cloud of smoke that Atsushi’s moth had vanished into. But the swarm did not only have ravenous intentions and just as quickly as they had gone to destroy their master’s enemies they came to his assistance, catching him mid-air and safely carrying him to the nearest rooftop. 

On the other side of the battlefield the giant dog that Chouje was faced against was visibly beginning to grow weary against the butterfly winged Susanoo armoured expansion user. The multiple headed hound attempted one final attack but was repealed with one hand. With her other hand Chouje raised her massive chakra bow staff and slammed it right down the crown of the dog’s central head, forcing it into the same smoky retreat as its fellow summon. With that the giant finally had the freedom to assist her fellow Uchiha.  
‘Looks like we might just win this thing after all,’ A sense of relief overcame Inosuke. This was the final push, if they succeeded Uzushiogakure would be nothing more than a mention in the history books by the end of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave any comments <3


	8. The stage is set

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original title: Another final part ????

The tussle between Amida and the Uchiha sage was nothing short of incredible. Even without using his inherited powers of his path of the sage Amida was far more than capable of handling himself even against such a fearsome opponent. Sage against sage they battled, throwing fists and kicks in each other’s direction but sensing the other’s just soon enough to avoid or block them. Mito had been gathering chakra for one last summon she could manage but the awe-inspiring nature of the fight before her had distracted her even long after she had the required energy. 

“Mito, go help Amida!” Kisha instructed. The old man was trying his best to try and heal Ryuuji after his fight without resorting to the King of Hell, just in case the rest of the fight failed to take a favourable turn and his jutsu was the only one that could change its tide. With that reminder Mito rushed in, relying on her own sage powers, and joined the fray. Given the path she had inherited; she was by far no expert of taijutsu but still she knew enough to at least not be a liability to her comrade. 

She had tried to go in for a series of punches and strikes from behind but the combination of sage art and sharingan proved too perceptive for a blind-sided attack. Still, even if he could see both of them he was clearly struggling to keep up. Just as Mito went in for an open handed strike to the neck Amida went in for a cut to the lower chest. Even so, the Uchiha managed to slip behind her but only by just a foot or two. That was her chance and she knew it. She quickly changed the posture and with both hands grabbed Amida’s arm. Almost instinctively her fellow sage caught on and stiffened his limb to provide a sturdy platform. Then in one swift movement she bounced both feet off the ground, narrowly just swinging them over Amida’s lowered head and, full circle, pivoting off his arm, she spun around and with a double kick knocked back the Uchiha with full force. “Shinra Tensei!” Amida added to the blow back effect. 

If their opponent’s sage powers were not coming to an end anytime soon they were at least certainly being pushed to their limits. Still, even with all that he proved to be a formidable and difficult adversary. He had managed to put himself the right way up from his tumble but was still sliding back. Mito knew a second chance when she saw one and with a helping push from Amida rushed forward, bit her thumb and stretched out her arm. She had been aiming for his face but the Uchiha ducked at the last moment. Still it hardly mattered, the wall of the broken house behind him provided the perfect platform either way. “Summoning jutsu!” And with that the loud bellowing of a giant ox filled the air and forced the Uchiha into retreat once more. 

That was it. The last of Mito’s chakra had been spent on that summoning, the rest was up to it and Amida to finish.

All seemed to be going in their favour when a sudden call brought it all their hopes to a halt. “Greater partial expansion jutsu!” Mito had just managed to avoid the powerful strike from the giant yet unseen enemy however her summon did not. The ox was sent toppling over at least seven more buildings, crushing them all and turning them into rubble beneath its enormous weight and size, and when it finally came to a halt, disappeared in a puff of smoke. What a surprise Mito had when she looked up and faced the exhausted bow wielding colossus towering over her with an armour of glowing purple chakra and butterfly wings at its rear. 

“I’m sorry master Takeo, that’s all I have left in me unfortunately,” her rumbling voice called down. In an instant the chakra armour vanished and the giant was gone, leaving nothing but a fat little girl wheezing on the ground where its feet had been in its place. 

“No worries, Chouje, you did just fine!” the Uchiha sage shouted back. “In fact you were just in time.” He smiled and closed his eyes, when he opened them again the twin suns were gone and the image of a standard mangekyo sharingan remained. “This is our chance,” Ryuuji’s words were still distorted by the broken jaw and he struggled to draw another blade from his remaining arm. But before he could even take the first step the giant sage froze in place, struggling against some unseen force. “You’re not going anywhere,” Mito could not see the kunoichi but knew her voice came from the shadows somewhere. Not long after a long string over shadows had managed to creep their way from a distance and over Ryuuji’s body, stretching across him and holding him in place, all the while edging closer and closer towards his throat. 

All over sudden the boy from before, the son of the sage, appeared but this time with another shinobi in tow. At first Mito thought him to be an Uchiha but his pale white other eye suggested Hyuuga. ‘A stolen byakugan?’ she wondered. The thought of a child possessing both seemed impossible to her. For all her years she knew the Uchiha and Hyuuga to be very proud clans, in fact too proud to ever ‘sully’ their blood with any other. Yet even so the chakras and abilities she sensed of all these other approaching shinobi hinted at Uchiha but still carried elements of a myriad of others. ‘Just what the hell is going on?’


	9. One final push!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original chapter title: Another final final part???????  
> Yeah my friend didn't realise how much he had written

“You made it just in time Inosuke,” his father smiled, visibly exhausted by the battle he had just faced. “You all seem pretty rugged but that’s to be expected. Hopefully combined we still have enough to face off against the rest of them. Hey, where’s Kaori and the mutt?” 

With that the other young red haired sage kunoichi stumbled out almost seemingly out of nowhere yet still with some strange perfect timing. By the looks of it she was clearly on the run from something and had hardly noticed she had stepped in between the battlefield between the two battling clans. “Firewheel fang-over-fang!” Exhausted and on her last legs she made one last effort to dodge, avoiding the flaming double attack by only an inch. 

“H-h-hey quite running and let me tear you to pieces, awooooh!” Kaori transitioned from flaming vortex to beast-man almost seamlessly and reached out with claw-like hands to grab the fleeing sage. Even then, without his sage abilities Inosuke saw that his father had realised something amiss about the situation before any of them. “Kaori wait!” Still, it was too late. “Shinra Tensei!”

Inosuke was forced to brace even though the focus of the blast missed him by several yards and he could feel an exhausted Hirashi holding on to his shoulder for stability with all he had. When the air finally settled the word he remembered crying was “Kaori!” 

The sage who had performed the jutsu vomited up a flood of blood, clearly on his last legs after an already drawn out fight. But Inosuke had hardly noticed any of that. His focus was on the trail of rubble, smoke and blood left in the wake of the attack. He rushed down, three blocks he had rushed down before he eventually reached the place the long crimson trail ended and fortunately the smoke had cleared enough not to obstruct his vision. 

“Karumaru…” Kaori coughed up an unhealthy amount of blood as he said his hounds name. “Where is she… where is Karumaru? I-I-I can't sense her chakra? I-I can’t smell her?” It was fortunate that Inosuke was not the only one that had rushed over when the blast happened or else his comrade would have lost an unspeakable amount of blood from the tear in his arm. “Shadow stitching jutsu!” A teary voice called from behind Inosuke. “Kaori, by the spirits, Kaori are you alright?” “Karu… Karumaru, where is Karumaru?” By the look of the loss of sharingan red in his black eyes it seemed the man-beast jutsu had been retracted just in time or else who could have known how much the combined damage to both man and dog would have done. Still, it seemed the shadows were the only thing preventing a good portion of his right body from tearing off, after all it was only a few sinews that were holding them together when Insouke found him.

“Inferno shadow trail,” Shika tried her best to cauterise the massive wound with her own firestyle as best she could while Inosuke looked around for the missing hound. The crushed pulp of bone, flesh and blood he eventually found would have been unrecognisable had it not been for the midnight black furry tail that seemed to have survived the endless amount of rubble that had fallen on the rest of the body. It was almost enough to make him both vomit and cry but Inosuke knew they still had a battle to finish. He decided to first report back to the two cousins on his way back. “I- I think I found-” Shika looked back at him with teary eyes and shook her head to stop him from speaking any further for the time being. “Di-di-did Inosuke find Kuromaru? I can’t smell her Shika, I can’t even hear her, where is she? Ku-Kuromaru come on this isn’t the time to play hide and seek, come out we still have a fight to finish with that stupid girl.” 

Perhaps it was best that Inosuke didn’t stay. He didn’t have the heart nor knew the right words to say to someone like Kaori about a situation like that. The best he could do was avenge him and Kuromaru in battle, that would in the very least be the Uchiha thing to do. 

It was fortunate that Shika had incinerated the sage she had caught in her grasp before she left with her inferno trail jutsu. It certainly made the task easier for Takeo and the rest of the Uchiha present.

“You bastards!” The old man who had been by the giant’s side cried after having been rendered helpless and left to watch his comrade burn to a charred crisp. 

“Guess this is it,” Takeo smiled, although even now he was still unsure of the situation at hand. “You say it like it’s going to be easy,” Hiroshi stated. It was true, both sides were clearly low on chakra but who was the lowest and who still had the most fighting resolve was still very uncertain. “Father!” Inosuke shouted at his return, blade in hand. Clearly whatever he had seen meant bad news for Kaori considering the Uchiha’s resolve he sensed in his son. Even now the outcome still seemed dreadfully uncertain and hopeless. Even if they were to win the losses on either side would be immeasurable in one way or another. Still, the only honourable answer, the only shinobi like answer was clear to him. “Charge!”

It was as if he had given the order to both forces and both sides charged to meet each other in the middle, wounded and battered as they were. Takeo felt his blood surging, his Uchiha blood trembling and itching in a bloodlust of anticipation. It was as if he wanted this kind of suicide battle more than anything else, as if it were the only correct way for someone like him to die. He did not have the protection of sage mode anymore but even so he refused to die without giving every last inch he had. At the acceptance of it all he felt his eyes bleed tears of joy. “Amaterasu!” As if in immediate response to his death song he heard a replying harmonious voice desperate to protect life. “Woodstyle, deep forest emergence!”

The great row of trees that so suddenly appeared between them was quickly consumed in the black flames, still it was enough to stop both parties in their tracks. Even once the flames and trees disappeared there was no chance to continue, not once He stood between them. The fight was over, and so Hashirama Senju commanded with but a glare.


	10. Curtain call for Uzushiogakure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original title: Maybe the end?  
> This man had no idea when it would end

“TAKEO UCHIHA!” Hashirama made out to reach for the Uchiha sage. “Lord First?” was the man’s only reply. Clearly the appearance of his almighty leader had surprised him just as much as it had Mito and the other remaining members of the Six. 

“HASHIRAMA!” Mito cried out, letting instinct take over. Just inches before her old friend could reach his subordinate she rushed in and grabbed him, throwing him to the floor. “You!” she pinned him to the ground by sitting on his chest and bore down a solid punch straight to the face. “Bastard!” she continued. This time blood spurted out. “How!” with every word she rained down a solid blow with every ounce of might she could manage. Perhaps if she still had more chakra left he might have been more concerned. “Could! You! Do! This! To! Us! To! MEEEEE! HASHIRAMAAAAAA!” 

“How dare you!” She had not noticed Tobirama and the other Leaf entourage arriving soon after but it made no difference, she threw off his grasp and gave him a scowl strong enough to force him back. “Mito…” Hashirama looked back at her, with sorrowful swollen eyes. “I-I cannot even begin to understand your pain,” the Hokage continued. “I have never had to witness my own home, my own clan so mercilessly slaughtered before my own eyes. Even the death of my own brother Izunu could not come close to the kind of pain I imagine you suffer now.” 

Mito could not believe it. After everything that had happened and that was all he could say to her? Some poetic flowery words as if that would be enough to console her? She raised a double fist above her head, screaming till it felt her lungs would burst and with the last of the strength and chakra she could manage pounded down on his face. When she removed her hands hardly a scratch was left, in fact the wounds she had inflicted before had also disappeared. ‘Curse your hundred hands healing jutsu Hashirama,’ she wept, letting her tears fall down on his face. ‘Curse your woodstyle, curse your Senju blood, curse your leaf, curse my love for you. Why Hashirama, why?’ In response to her fury he said nothing. His only reaction was the left palm he raised to caress her right cheek. Perhaps he truly did understand her pain, after all he did not pretend to comprehend something she could not even fully grasp with empty words. 

It was some time till everyone was again at peace again, at least in the physical realm. Mito got off from the Senju and allowed him to explain the situation. After hearing the full story and having Hashirama confirm it she found a new strength from deep within her. This was no reserve chakra she held nor the sage powers she wielded, no this was nothing but pure hatred, pure loathing for the man before her. Even Hashirama with all his own physical might had to resort to restraining her with his woodstyle to keep her from attacking him. 

“I am sorry,” Tobirama said, his tone was unchanging and indifferent as always. “But it was just what needed to be done. For the sake of the Leaf. As a leader of your own village I’m sure you understand.” Mito stopped struggling against the wooden binds that held and allowed the eerie pause between them all to take hold. “Understand?” Mihoko seemed to be the first to break the pause, rising from her hunched over and broken position in a corner. “Look at this place… understand? Look at us… understand? Look at my friend’s burnt black body…. understand? Look at the people of this village! What the hell do you want us to understand!”

It was as if an unknown energy had taken over the once timid girl, an unknown and furious energy. Even with the naked eye and without sensory abilities one could feel the immense chakra suddenly well up inside the girl. “Mihoko wait!” Kisha tried to stop her. It was pointless, the way she was there was nothing that could bring the girl back to sanity. Just then a giant purple chakra rod appeared from her back, at its end a black rod which she struck into the back of the neck of Ryuuji’s charred body. “I’ll never understand,” she cried, the tears flowing past the long red locks of hair that blocked her eyes. “I refuse to understand! Not when you didn’t give Ryuuji the chance to understand! Not when you didn’t give Nagisa the chance to understand!” 

A noticeable cloud of terror overcame everyone as they watched the girl raise the burnt body before them with her own chakra. A terror that overcame everyone but Tobirama it seemed. “Interesting,” Mito heard him say curiously. “The ability to bring back the dead… I wonder if even I could manage that?” ‘The bastard?’ Mito thought to herself angrily. ‘Even now he’s trying to figure out how to create new jutsu?’ A violently metallic clicking sounded from the incinerated body guided by the chakra chain and a metal blade drew out from its remaining lifeless arm.

“Hashirama Senju, I hate you!” Mihoko had just about sent her Ryuuji puppet against the First Hokage but hardly had its feet left the ground when she herself staggered back, spitting blood. “Flying Raijin Strike!” Mito dropped to her knees. There was no fury left in her, even for Tobirama. All she could do now was cry. “I’m sorry little one, unfortunately I cannot let you hurt my brother,” Tobirama spoke with his usual apathetic tone even then. “He is still crucial to the future of my village and I need him to fix it.”   
“Mihoko!” Kisha cried, he was too far too helpless to even express rage and clearly with not enough chakra left to revive the dying or dead in time. “Kisha please,” Amida said, still spitting up blood. He tried to keep his voice as plain as he could but even so Mito could see the pain in his eyes. By the way he didn’t even dare to raise a hand at the enemies before him. She knew they had been defeated, that Uzushiogakure was no more. 

“Forgive me,” Hashirama rose, speaking to the other two remaining sages. “I never wanted it to end up like this-I…I-I am sorry.” He bowed, his arms straight at his side and his head lowered down more than anyone Mito had ever seen before. Kisho approached the Hokage, clear disdain in his eyes. He looked down at the back of the head of the man bowed before him and spat a large wad of spit. “To hell with your apologies Hashirama Senju!” he cried. “How dare you!” this time it was Tobirama’s fierce energy that left the entire group gathered in awe. All but Kisho that was. “Kill me if you must,” he said back loathingly. “Look around you, it’s not as though you left me with anything to cry over anymore.” “Tobirama!” Those words from his brother were enough to make the younger Senju retreat. “Please forgive my brother’s rudeness,” he continued. “We owe you everything, even our own lives after such an impasse. Please allow us to try repent even just a fraction by allowing us to help rebuild your village.” 

At first the old man scoffed but when he realised the Hokage was being sincere he broke into a full laugh. But not a laugh of any mirth, no, this was a laugh of sorrow, of the pain of losing so many comrades, of losing his home and village. “You don’t deserve to carry the name Senju after this betrayal,” Kisho stopped his laughter to speak sternly once more. “To hell with your pity, look around you, you can sense it with your own sage mode too can’t you? There are barely enough Uzumaki to reclaim this place even if you put every brick and beam back into place and did it twice more again. The buildings are not what made Uzushiogakure, it was the Uzumaki that resided within it that did. If anything I expected the architect of the shinobi village system to understand that. But you took that all away, just like you wanted. The Uzumaki are defeated, never to rise again. Congratulations, Hashirama you destroyed an entire nation. Do you feel satisfied by your deeds? Do you feel a sense of ecstasy to know the numerous bones and endless cups of blood you walk over here? The countless generations of Uzumaki children you have deprived of a life of self-worth and pride? Of course not, you slaughtered their forefathers here and now and prevented such things from happening. So I say to hell with your pathetic peace offerings, and all true Uzumaki left would certainly feel the same. Where we go, I doubt that would matter, but if it would somehow finally bring the death of the Hidden Leaf Village, even after two hundred thousand generations, I would be satisfied with that.” 

With that the old sage turned around and picked up the body of Mihoko. Mito knew he planned to give the young girl a proper burial in the end. After all, she was his granddaughter, he owed her that much more than anyone else. “Come on Amida, bring Ryuuji and we’ll come back for the rest later.” He said before bounding off, never to be seen again. 

Amida did what he was instructed but reluctantly still. He turned around for one last time and looked at Mito. “You’re not coming are you,” he realised. Perhaps he had sensed it in her chakra there and then or perhaps he had noticed from the several meetings between Senju and Uzumaki before. “I’m sorry Amida,” Mito said, sad and confused all at once. “But besides Uzushiogakure and what was the Six… Hashirama is all I know.” “I understand,” Amida replied. Still stoic as ever but she knew he truly did, his words were always sincere and reflective of his heart when it came to such things. “Take care, and in all things you do keep the teachings of Ashura and the Uzumaki in your heart.” “I will,” she replied, although her old comrade was too far by then to have heard. 

“L-Lord first!” the little Uchiha boy cried out. It was clear that even now, battle hardened as he tried to make himself he was still but a child. “What is it my boy?” Hashirama had also seemed to soften into his true nature even then and knelt down to meet the boy with concerned eyes. “I-its Kaori… he’s hurt and… please just come with me you’ve got to save him!” He was trying to hold back tears behind those sharingan eyes. No, they had reverted back to Yamanaka blue by now it seemed. Still, the colour and identity of such trivial things had never mattered much to Hashirama and before any other words could be spoken he was running off following the young Uchiha down the street. 

“What will you do now?” Tobirama asked her when it was clear his brother was out of earshot. “I suppose I have no choice,” she remained cold to him in her response. “I certainly cannot rebuild my own village and just like Kisho said you didn’t leave enough of us to do that. So I guess I’ll just come back with you to the Leaf. I’ll try to convince as many of my clan that I can find but don’t expect anything incredible.” “Mito, I-” For the first time Mito had known the man he seemed to be making apologies, but why now of all times. “Tobirama don’t,” she stopped him. “Let it be, let us live with our mistakes, your mistake.”


	11. Epilogue

It had been weeks since the incident and still Takeo Uchiha awaited his final sentencing. The cold walls and silence of the Hidden Leaf prison seemed almost ironic to the warmth he had felt since he had come with his parents all those years ago in its founding. Still, he did not regret it, he had chosen this path after all.

The day after they returned there was a great commotion as to what had happened in Uzushiogakure. News travelled quickly in the shinobi world, especially news of such significance. “I’ll have to take the blame,” he had told his partners in the crime as they made their way to the Hokage’s main hall for questioning on the matter. “What? No, we all agreed to this!” He knew Tobirama would be the most stubborn of them. Still, even Kagami seemed to object. “Master Tobirama is right, even if we all have to face the highest penalty for what we did, we can go out knowing we did it all for the sake of our village’s survival. Takeo there is no shame in-” 

In truth Takeo hadn’t bothered to listen to the rest of the young Uchiha’s speech, profound and moving as it might have been. Approaching them he could hear the two Anbu members coming around the corner to collect them and bring them in for hearing. “Look, it’s simple,” he said one last time. “I’ll simply say it was something I set up to test the abilities of my new project of mixing the Uchiha’s abilities with other clans or something like that. Then if they still don’t believe me I’ll say I gradually manipulated the two of you into doing it and following through it all, I’ll even admit to using genjutsu if I must.” “Pah!” Tobirama scoffed, more out of pride than anything else. “As if they would ever believe you managed to use genjutsu against someone like me.” “Oh really?” Takeo smiled at his two friends one last time. “Mangekyo sharingan!” 

The timing could not have been more perfect. “You bastard, what did you do to Lord Tobirama!” one of the Anbu members cried out. “Oops, looks like I didn’t get the chance to run away after putting him under my genjutsu,” Takeo lied. 

After that it was easy enough to sway the adjudicators of their trial that he was the one and only culprit and have any admission of his comrades dismissed as corrupted testimony by influence of genjutsu. All that remained was what his sentence for his crime would be. Although, death was the clear outcome, the rest and the agonising waiting that followed were merely a formality. 

Still, it was nice enough of the First to allow him a visitor every once in a while till then. In fact he had just seen his son, Inosuke the day before. “Father!” he had cried out as he tried to reach beyond the bars. “Step away from the bars!” the warden shinobi called out. Unable to even touch his father the boy resorted to tears as he looked at him eye to eye for what he knew would be the last time. 

“Hey come on don’t cry,” Takeo tried to ease the situation. “Yeah,” Inosuke tried to do the same, while whipping away his tears. “At least now no one can stop me from becoming a jounin.” The boy forced a tearful laugh. “Damn, it boy I’m not dead yet,” Takeo laughed reaching out to wipe the tears from his son’s cheek. “Step away from the bars!” the warden called out again. “I swear if you do anything like that again I’ll end this meeting right here and now.” “Oh my goodness would you shut up!” “What did you say to me prisoner?” “Mangekyo sharingan!” 

“Damn it should have put a bit more control into that one,” Takeo said after watching the guard fall with a loud thud. “Now they’re definitely gonna send another guard to check up. Man, and it was bean cake night tonight too, guess I can forget about those.” Something about his final attempts of humour seemed to bring a slight smile to his son. 

“By the way,” he continued, caressing his son's face. “Please, stop going by Inosuke Uchiha, I want you to use your Yamanaka name from now on.” Something about that had clearly confused the boy and he grabbed his hands to stop his affections. “Father I-I can’t, I would never, the Uchiha name, it means too much to-” “It means nothing but hatred and pain nowadays son,” Takeo interrupted him. “And I fear it will mean way worse in the coming future. In the very least let my grandchildren have a chance. In fact, tell the rest of the Diluted to give up on the Uchiha name, it’s not like the clan gave them any love anyway, why suffer for something that won’t accept you and love you back no matter how hard you try? I don’t want you all to have to go through the rest of your lives with any unnecessary pains that I have caused you.” 

“Father no I-” “Inosuke…” Something about his son’s resilience brought sadness to him yet at the same time great pride. He heard the voices and rushing footsteps of worried wardens finally rushing up towards his section of the prison. “In the very least, have the other’s give up on the name,” he instructed. “If you must…if you are so desperate to hang on to the Uchiha legacy… then there is someone you should meet, someone who could perhaps spark something more in you than I could ever. Go to the Southern Woods, there’s a spring nearby a natural Koi pond there, I’m sure when that person meets you he will know what to say and do with you.”

The guards were at the door as he finished those words. “Inosuke… is there anything you’d like me to tell your mother when I go?” “I-I-I…” before the boy could even bring out his final words three wardens rushed in and pulled him away, out of the room. “Oh you think you’re some kind of tough guy huh?” He heard another group of wardens shouting behind him. “Is death row not enough punishment for you? You some kind of glutton for pain? Well we’ll give you your fill.” 

Pain and hate. Those were the only two emotions he remembered having that day.


	12. Epilogue part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is the end of this story. When I asked my friend to write something serious I said a one shot that was 3000 words max. And here we are over 22k.

A public hanging, that was Takeo Uchiha’s fate. At least it would provide some sort of recompense for the few Uzumaki who had returned to their village, Inosuke supposed. It was all made worse by the First’s announcement that he would marry that sage of Ashura’s Six, Mito Uzumaki. Although he could not help but look at every redheaded shinobi with great loathing from that day on, as though they had been the reason for his father’s death. But still his father had accepted this fate, even invited it without their influence. So why did he still despise them so? Or perhaps the hatred he felt to them was more than that, some kind of generational feud laced in his blood he did not even know of. 

It mattered not. Inosuke woke one morning determined to make his way to the Koi pond in the Southern Woods like his father had asked him to, although it was not his father’s words alone that had pushed him. He remembered being home alone but only a few nights before, two days before his father’s execution. Kagami had shown up and knocked on the door, hurriedly, and refusing to share any pleasantries when answering the door. The young Uchiha seemed in a rush and afraid of some potential followers it seemed. 

“A final gift from your father, Lord Tobirama made sure that you would receive it,” he said, handing him a pouch, its underside seemed stained with dry blood but it was hard to tell in the rain. As soon as he took it Kagami rushed off. Inosuke was afraid at first to unwrap the parcel but when he eventually did he was overcome with a sense of sickness and anger. In fact, he had spent a good amount of time vomiting outside before returning to it. He had long heard the stories of how Madara had been the first to achieve the Eternal Mangekyo sharingan, but was he truly able to carry out such a practice all for power, or at least for his father’s sake? The answer was clear, painful as it might have been, at least so long as he wished to hold to the promise he had made to his father of staying true to his Uchiha being. The task would be easy enough without raising suspicion in the rest of the village too, ever since his visit the prison system had made it new policy to cover all prisoner Uchiha eyes to prevent a repeated event, even during execution. Lord Tobirama could easily gain a solo uninterrupted visit with a prisoner too so from then on it would be easy to hide the fact that a blindfolded prisoner had just had his eyes removed.

Even so, as he wandered through the Southern Woods the world seemed so much more different, although he wasn’t sure whether it was because he now saw it through his father’s eyes or because it was a part he had never visited before. Just then the soft sound of trickling water made him slow down and stop. There was a pond as promised but only two koi in it, a black and a white one, always seemingly swimming on opposite ends of the small pool. Still it was hardly enough to call it a koi pond with only two fish in it. Still, something about the black one drew his attention the most, the white one he held an unexplainable loathing for, so much so he wished its death. 

“The black one is the best isn’t it,” he heard a voice call out, although even with a sharingan he struggled to find it. It was a deep yet inhumanely voice by the sound of it. “Perhaps I only like it because it reminds me a bit of myself. But what about you? Why do you like it so much?” With that he found it, the figure emerged from the shadows of the forest and into the light. It was a small thing it seemed, human-like at least in dress although very poorly so. Its face was covered by the lowbrow of its straw hat but when it lifted its head it revealed a face pitch black as night, a pair of bright yellow eyes and a wide smile of pure white sharp teeth that stretched across most of the width of its face.   
“My, my you really do have your father’s eyes,” it gave a sickening chuckle. “Those Uchicha eyes… Indra’s eyes.” 

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone that read the story. Feel free to comment anything : )

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to comment any feedback or questions ☺️


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